


Datu – Beasts

by feurison



Category: Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crime Scenes, Gen, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Pokemon story with no pokemon, Travel, Tropical setting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-14
Updated: 2020-01-30
Packaged: 2021-02-26 23:01:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 24,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21787045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/feurison/pseuds/feurison
Summary: What if Team Skull existed on another tropical island, with no pokemon, but just as many mysterious occurrences and strange beings? Toloko, originally only trying to save his grandmother, ends up trying to save the island. And there's more thereatening it than just overly loud hip-hop beats and strange rhymes. – Written by @Feurison on Twitter
Kudos: 3





	1. Saavahai

**Author's Note:**

> Use the links below to open maps of the setting!

[Map of the island](https://jutean.neocities.org/unknown.png) – [Map of the village of Saavahai, Toloka's home](https://jutean.neocities.org/map%20settlement%20colored%20important%20buildings%20numbered.png)

* * *

## Chapter 1: Saavahai

* * *

### The storm

* * *

The first birds could be heard again, now that the storm had finally passed, and the villagers could observe the damage for the first time.  
  
„Are you alright?” Toloka asked as he was trying to pull his friend out of the shattered remains of his home.  
But it was no use, the storm an hour ago had caused a palm tree to fall on the already damaged house. For some reason the leaves had been smoldering a bit when they had hit the home, but he paid no attention to it in that moment. He was certainly no weakling, working every day on his fields, but he still didn't have the power to move tree trunks out of the way as if they were mere twigs, rendering Netumo stuck with no easy way out.  
At least neither of them had gotten injured. Not gravely, anyway. A few cuts here and there were noticeable on the trapped young man, as well as some bruises, but he was otherwise fine. The one now standing outside scratching his head even managed to avoid injuries entirely.  
  
Toloka took a few steps back, examining the situation with his hands rammed into his sides. Where once a small wooden bungalow had been standing, surrounded by coconut palms, only ruins, debris and broken branches with partially burnt leaves remained now. A small breeze was still noticeable, ruffling his dark hair from time to time, as well as the grass and leaves on the ground.  
  
„Well, guess we'll have to figure something out.” Netumo said, peaking out between some twigs and holes in the wall.  
– „Yeah...”  
„What kind of storm was that anyway? I was eating lunch inside, and just moments later I heard trees being knocked down some hundreds meters away, all kinds of things being flung through the air and people screaming something about a monster having appeared. Next thing I know, the ceiling collapses and a palm tree blocks my doorway”  
  
Toloka stared into the distance, at all the destruction that was surrounding him. Many other houses had been destroyed as well, rubble was visible everywhere, the streets were full with it.  
  
–„I don't know either, to be honest. I was at the beach fishing and ran back when I noticed the wind getting stronger. But it was really weird, too, when I went out, the sky was perfectly blue, not a single cloud in sight. Nothing that should have been able to cause a storm. I didn’t manage to look up again when I was running back, though.”  
  
„Be glad you were outside. At least you didn't get trapped in your own home, and can now try to help me get out of here ... Once we know how to remove this trouble-maker here.” He pointed to the trunk before him.  
  
– „Seems like we'll really need some more help with this. Wait here, I'll go and get some people. Not like they all can be in the same situation”  
The young man grinned.  
„Pff, not like I could leave even if I wanted to, right?”  
Toloka couldn't help but smirk at that.  
– „Oh yeah, sorry. Should have paid more attention to what I was saying. Anyway, I'll be back soon and free you. Then we'll have some pancakes at my place... assuming it's still standing”  
  
He turned pale at the thought. His mother was still living there, and she wasn't the quickest and most agile anymore. She could have been seriously hurt. Netumo looked worried at his friend.  
„Hope everything's alright there, pal. Better go and check there first and then come back with someone strong enough to help here. Family's the most important, after all.”  
– „But I can't leave an old friend like you hanging either. We've known each other since we were little. Besides, it's on the other side of the village. I'm bound to come across someone who can lift the trunk and push it aside together with me. Maybe even multiple people.”  
„Alright, see you later, then.”  
– „See you.”  
  
With that, he turned away and left in the direction of the center of the small settlement he called home. It wasn't big, really. A couple dozen homes, a community center, a school, and a small harbor building were all that could be found in his native village. Some hundred, maybe two hundred people lived here, worked here and in their free time often tended to communal gardens or met for storytelling nights around a campfire in the  
_mihonafa_ called assembly hall.  
That's also where all local issues, construction plans and so on were usually discussed. The next settlement was several miles away, so a large degree of self-government has always been obvious.  
  
This could now pose a problem, since it means any help will take a long time getting here. Going from here to the nearest bigger settlement would first require you to follow a dirt road for several kilometers through jungle land, then take a boat down a small river, Nosta, which eventually enters into the bigger Kelua. After fifteen kilometers downstream you would reach Miltan, a small town of maybe 1,000 inhabitants.  
  
As Toloka walked down the street leading to center of the settlement, he took in the destruction around him. The street, more of a small dirt path, was running parallel to the beach and only separated by a thin line of palms from it. Many of those had been knocked down, laying on the ground with more strangely scorched leaves and branches. And on the other side, many houses had been damaged, some even destroyed entirely.  
It was a depressing sight, but at least there were people helping each other repairing them already. Fixing roofs, replacing windows, cleaning up debris and so on. There was a lot of shouting, hammering and sawing going on, since a lot of new walls were needed as well. Not one person seemed to be loitering around.  
Thankfully, thought Toloma. In this isolated corner of the world, with the wild jungle lurking just behind your garden, you really needed to be able to rely on other people for help. Otherwise you wouldn't make it here for very long, as a single person alone could never properly take care of all the things you need to look after to survive.  
Let alone fend off the dangerous creatures that sometimes crossed the netu, the border between village and wilderness. Due to how the settlement was spread out along the coast, and the limited resources, a wall was never erected and you needed to keep your wits and weapons sharp to be able to help fending off any beasts intruding during sentry duty at night.

* * *

  
His train of thought was interrupted when he overheard some elderly man talking loudly to a younger man he was handing ready-cut boards to hammer together to a new door.  
  
„We've had dealt with a lot of things – beasts from the sea and beasts from the land. But a threat from the air? Now that's something I never though I'd see.”  
  
His curiosity piqued, he walked up to them hoping to hear some more in the exchange for some help.  
When the two saw him, they just nodded and he didn't even have to ask before the older man wordlessly gave him a board to pass on to what seemed to be his son. His vunam, as children call both of their parents here, motioned towards the pile with the remaining ones and left, probably to get some more for the broken walls as well.  
As the two younger men started to build the door, Toloma finally asked if they had any suspicions about why a storm would suddenly appear on a day with seemingly almost perfect weather.  
  
„We were rather puzzled at first, too, Vunam and me. It wasn't just that the time seemed entirely unfitting. The storm also seemed to behave entirely different in comparison to all other ones we have experienced before. It seemed more like heavy wings creating wind than a typical whirlwind.”  
  
He glanced at the sky, as if searching for something.  
  
„I really wanted to know what was going on, so against all warnings and common sense I decided to go out. Vunam followed me, urging me to come back inside. Then he saw me standing there like paralyzed. Staring at the same spot above in the air-sea. He saw it, too, and for a moment didn't move either. Then he grabbed me and pushed me back into the house...”  
  
– „What was it that you saw?”  
  
„I ... don't know how to describe it, actually. It was like a large black wave in the otherwise clear sky, moving closer. Not like a cloud, more like some pitch-black water waving through the air. It had some very weird shape, though...”  
  
– „Oh _faven_ , was it some kind of monster you saw? Do you think it had anything to do with the storm?”  
  
Toloka wasn't sure what to believe. He didn't think this neighbor of his friend was just making it up to gain attention or had been hallucinating. No, the young man seemed honest and of completely sound mind. Not the person to lie to get some minutes of local fame or delude themselves into thinking they saw something that wasn't there at all.  
  
„I'm sure” the neighbor continued, „that it did. I didn't get a good sight at it before I was pushed inside by my vunam, but that was definitely a terrifying sight there above. An ethereal datu of the sky, apparently, generating large amounts of wind.” He paused, looking into the distance once more, the fear seeming to return to his eyes.  
  
„And when I was inside again, I could see small flames through the window, right next to the spot I was standing at. Never in my life have I been so scared.” he said to Toloka.  
  
This is the stuff that you would tell children who don't want to go to bed in time or try to wander off alone, Toloka thought. Legends. Myths.  
  
– „Sorry to hear that. Whatever it was, I hope it doesn’t come back.” He was trying to shake the worrisome picture of his mind, and remembered the actual reason he was there.  
  
„I’d really like to stay and help you repair more, but there this problem I have to deal with first – my friend is stuck in his house behind a palm trunk that blocks his way out, do you know anyone who could be strong enough to lift it together with me?”  
  
„Some people over there maybe?” the younger one said, gesturing towards a nearby tree where a couple men had gathered, leaning against it or sitting on the ground chatting and eating fruits, apparently taking a break from repairwork for a moment now.  
  
Toloka walked over to them, almost tripping over a branch that the storm had brought down in the process. It was enough to get the attention of the small group, and the one sitting in front of everyone else was already getting up and asking silently where help was needed by pointing to one demolished bungalow nearby. Toloka responded by pointing down the dirtpath, and three people started following him, the other two went their own ways.  
  
As the new group of five walked back to Netumo’s house, past the same houses currently being repaired, they noticed some black scales laying on the path to the beach and port on the left. Toloka picked them up, mustered them and their shiny black surface, and put them in his pockets. To maybe ask someone, at some point, what they were and how they came here.  
  
Toloka and everyone else hadn’t spoken a single word on the way back, and that didn’t change now. Wordlessly, but with some groans, they managed to lift up the palm and cast it to the side, where it landed with a resounding thud on the ground, prompting them and the now freed Netumo to cheer loudly and give each other approving taps on the chest.  
  
Toloka ran up to Netumo and interlocked his arm with Netumo’s in relief. They both looked briefly at each other and then the destroyed home.  
  
„You can stay with me and my family as long as your house is still broken. Provided mine isn’t broken, too, of course...” Toloka said.  
– „Oh, thanks. That would be great. I hope it’s not bothering your family.”  
„Not at all. They like having friends over.”  
  
They walked back, in silence at first, then Toloka pulled out the scales from his pockets.  
  
„By the way, I found this just at the beginning of the beach path. Do you have any idea where they might have come from? I have never seen anything like this here before.”  
  
Netumo took one and observed it, holding it up to the sun, but it remained pitch-black.  
  
„No clue, dude. It seems really strange, too, what animal would lose such large and thick scales on land?”  
  
He gave it back to Toloka, who looked down on it again, turning it around in his hand.  
_The color, the place where I found it, it reminds me of something I heard earlier..._  
  
„I’m no animal sciencer... but maybe I’ll be a dragon-catcher soon...”  
  
– „Dragon-catcher?”  
  
„You know, what they call the opposite of a do-nothing. I don’t know how often I have been told that I’m definitely not one.”  
  
– „Oh, like that. Wait, what are you planning?”  
  
„Finding someone who can figure out what this thing is... and then slay the beast!”  
  
Netumo was silent for a moment, but then broke out into laughter. He tapped Toloka on the chest. „Good one, man.”  
  
Toloka was grinning, too, but still fixated on the scale, before he finally put it away again. His friend started talking again.  
  
„Seriously though, what are we going to do if storms keep coming as suddenly from now on? It’d be terrible for our village. And it’s not like we can stop the weather...”  
  
He got no reply to that. A slight breeze was still blowing, and with the construction work being paused you could hear the waves through the small patch of trees on the side of the street again.  
  
Passing the square that would be used for a market the next day, the communal assembly hall and the home of a local simple, traditional medic they turned to a sidepath and finally arrived at Toloka’s home, at the outskirts of the village, near to where the netu marked the beginning of the jungle.

* * *

### At home

* * *

Its somewhat hidden and secluded location seems to have shielded it from the storm, since it appeared entirely undamaged. As Netumo’s home, it was made of wood with a roof consisting of palm leaves. But this house also had had a second story added to it haphazardly. Housing code inspectors might have complained, but only if they ever were likely to end up so far away from the main towns to begin with.  
  
Some flowers grew next to the wooden door, which creaked upon opening, alerting a woman wearing a green tunic standing at a sink washing dishes to the arrival of the two friends, who rushed to meet them.  
  
„Thank goodness, you are alright! I was worried about you. I heard there was a terrible storm outside, and just when you were out fishing, too... what happened exactly?”  
  
„It was weird, really weird. There was suddenly a strong wind that kept getting worse... and I hadn’t even noticed the sky getting darker. It was a huge storm in no time.”  
  
– „In broad daylight? How strange”  
  
„Apparently, _vunam_. I just tried to get back as fast as possible at that point, so I didn’t look up again. What’s more, the storm stopped as suddenly as it had started. I was going to go back to collect my things, but then I saw Netumo being trapped in his house, and getting him out of there took some time and help.”  
  
– „And you took him here?” She turned to Toloka’s friend. „Do you need a place to sleep? We have some room on the second floor if you want. I just need to take out some stuff and tidy up a bit. And please, have a seat and some fruit tea.”  
  
She only got a quiet and awkward „Thanks” in reply, and Netumo sat down at a table below a window showing some small vegetable fields, filling in a cup made of a coconut shell with some warm fruit tea. Opposite him on a chair with a blanked laid out on it was Toloka’s grandmother, who are called vunavunam here, as are grandfathers. She had a wet cloth on her head and looked to her grandson and slightly smiled.  
  
„Ah, you are well. I was worried, too. But you know, Toloka, the storm actually was also somewhat of a miracle for us, and especially me. When it hit, I was just about to go outside, and so I stayed here. It was just some minutes later...” She momentarily paused, tensed up and looked out of the window with sad eyes.  
„It was just some minutes later that I ... that I, I’m sorry I have to tell you this, I suddenly felt so very ill, to the point where I fell on the floor and almost passed out. Your vunam was thankfully here and could help me to bed and realized I had some fever, but I really wanted to have my tea at my usual place and... anyway, at least it happened here and not in the jungle, who knows what...”  
  
Toloka felt as if the blood drained from his face, just staring in disbelief, and unable to listen properly. He had no idea what was happening or what had happened. What kind of illness does that? Would the local healer know about it? Is it curable? Please, let it be curable...  
But she was right, if the illness had struck while she was outside, not only might she have tripped while falling and injured herself, no one would have been there to help her. He tried to banish the thought, he didn’t want to start crying in front of everyone.  
  
Already about to reach out to his grandmother, he pulled his arm back, worrying any sudden movements or similar might harm her. He could only look her in the eyes, frowning and breathing heavily, unable to even bring out a word.  
  
„Toloka, dear, you don’t need to worry so much. I’ll be fine, surely. I just need some more rest. But maybe the local healer can tell me what that was, and put your hearts at ease.”  
  
– „A-absolutely! I will go right away. Netumo, are you coming?”  
  
His mother spoke before his friend could answer.  
„Sorry, but you should go alone for now. It’s not even far anyway. I was hoping Netumo could help around the house a bit now, since we really need any help we can get now.”  
  
Toloka momentarily looked crestfallen, but regained posture quickly and replied:  
„Alright... anything else I should do? Anything in particular I should tell her?”  
  
„Just bring her here, it’ll be easier to explain everything to her here.”  
  
„Good, I’ll do that, then.”  
  
He wasn’t happy with this arrangement, but the last thing he wanted to do now was to argue. There was probably no point anyway. Sighing he opened the door again, which caused another creaking sound and left the house. His mother closed the door carefully after him and then flapped down the window shutter, presumably to let his grandmother sleep.  
  
As he started walking, he could see his mother leave the building together with Netumo from the side door, carrying a basket, but they soon left his field of vision. He was really worried how they were going to get through the days now if a cure for his grandmother couldn’t be found. All that work that needed to be done, and then nursing her on top of that. Even with his friend helping out, for which he has was truly grateful, it would be difficult.  
  
In the distance, he could hear construction work again, but next to him on a casuarina tree with its needle-like leaves a Cardinal was sitting. The red-colored bird seemed to be curious about him and looked him in the eye. Toloka found this a bit puzzling.  
  
„Sorry birdie, I have no food for you with me. Maybe some other time”  
  
The bird flew from the tree to a nearby landing spot for carrier pigeons that were widely used for communication in this remote corner of the island and kept watching him.  
  
„I mean, if you want, you can follow me. Not sure why you would want to, though. I’m not going to collect berries or anything.”  
  
He was starting to wonder why he was talking to a bird that probably didn’t understand him, but it was kind of fun and a welcome distraction so he kept going.  
  
„Well, see you later, ... bird.” His knowledge of bird species was very limited, and he regretted it in that moment. He hadn’t paid attention in school on that day.

* * *

### The healer

* * *

The healer lived right around the corner, a few houses down the main street which this sidepath led to. To the left of it was still the small patch of palms, partially destroyed from the storm, through which he could see the coast and now also some fishing boats that had already left for the sea again. To the right were houses, most larger than the one of his family, but also made from wood, some with ornamental elements made of stone or dried flowers.  
None of the houses had fences or gates, but some had porches or balconies. The healer’s house had one such porch, and a large one at that. And the healer herself was currently sitting outside behind a table, wearing a facemask and mixing various powders, liquids as well as leaves and berries, all sitting in their own small pot. Smoke was coming up from a larger one in the middle that had a small fire below it.  
  
Toloka walked up to her, but she didn’t even notice him.  
  
„Excuse me”  
  
– „one jellyberry and...”  
  
After the berry was added, the mixture began to splutter loudly and quickly rose to the top, but halfway there popped in a small explosion and before either of them could step away from the table their faces were both covered in grey mush and the surroundings lightly smelling like burned coal and different kinds of berries.  
  
The smoke was biting and caused Toloka to cough a lot. The medic was protected by her facemask, so she just kept saying „sorry, sorry... my mistake” with wide eyes as she tried to fan it all away with her hands.  
  
After a minute or so, everything around them had calmed down again and the healer asked:  
  
„So, what brings you to me today? What’s your name? Sorry about that incident, that should have been nellyberry, not jellyberry.”  
  
– „Honored Elae, I’m Toloka and here because – Well, my vunavunam is sick. She had collapsed on the floor and while she could get up with help she seems to still not have recovered fully. And – And I’m just worried about what happened to her, and what will happen to her...”  
  
„Do you think you could give me more details about what happened?”  
  
– „Actually, I wanted to ask if it were possible for you to visit her. I wasn’t there when she fell, so I unfortunately can’t say much”  
  
„Oh, of course. Please just let me tidy up here a bit and bring my ... stuff inside, and I’ll come right with you.”  
  
She turned off the flame, took the still softly bubbling pot inside and then returned to clear the remainder of the table and wipe it clean. Then she picked up a red backpack resting next to the door and walked down the stairs of the porch.  
  
„Let’s go then” she said, motioning towards Toloka.  
  
He hesitated for a moment before following.  
  
„Something wrong?”  
  
–„No, nothing”  
  
„Sorry if I’m being rude or anything. I haven’t been here long yet and I think things are a bit different where I grew up.” She smiled. „It was a big change, coming from this much bigger town to this small community. But I like it here a lot.”  
  
–„You’re good, really.”  
  
„Hey, good to know.”

* * *

  
As they walked down the path again, Toloka noticed the same red cardinal on another post for carrier pigeons again.  
  
_How weird_ , thought he.  
_I didn’t expect to actually see it later again. Guess it really wants to be my friend?_ He grinned at the thought, and threw some yellow katuberry at it that was growing at a nearby bush. The bird flew after it and swallowed it whole.  
  
„Alright, so where is your house?” the healer asked, as they had come to the end of the street, before it became a jungle path.  
  
Toloka pointed towards the end of the sidepath to their left, and they continued down it. A small breeze was rustling the coconut palm next to the house, and a coconut crashed down a step away from him.  
  
„Be careful, I don’t want to have to treat you, too, after your coconut was hit by a falling one!” she joked. He ignored it and opened the door, stepping inside first.  
  
„  
_Vunavunam_ , we are back! The healer is here.”  
  
Elae was now pointed towards the bed, not far from the door it was located in the main room opposite the table they had drunk tea at earlier.  
  
Before she approached it, she asked Toloka another question.  
  
„So who was there when she fell?”  
  
– „It was my  
_vunam_ , she also helped her to bed after it.”  
  
„Can you go and ask her to come? In the meantime I’ll try to make a general first diagnosis.”  
  
–„Of course, she’s probably still in the garden.”  
  
As no one in the village had a garden all to themselves, gardens tended to be used by people from several homes. The garden was therefore stretching from next to their house to the houses on the other side of the path, with the path itself ending right before it. With the village on that side, and the jungle on the other, it was a bit like a transitional zone between civilization and wilderness.  
  
He walked past rows of yams and found her still weeding the field.  
  
„  
_Vunam_ , the healer is here. And he wanted to talk to you”  
  
She didn’t respond and just got up.  
  
„Where’s Netumo?”  
  
– „He told me he knows mushrooms and berries, too, so I let him go to the jungle to get some, like  
_vunanvunam_ would have done today.”  
  
„Oh  
_faven_ , I hope he’s not being overconfident in his abilities. Does he even know the wilderness around here? If only I don’t have to go looking for him there”  
  
He stared into the small, barely visible path that led from the garden into the jungle for a moment before walking back to the house with his mother, kicking up some dirt.  
  
„Argh, why can’t this illness just go back to the life-ender, where it came from and it belongs. Wretched sucker of lifeforce.”  
  
As they both stepped into the house again and entered the main room, Elae frowned at them, the grandmother sleeping next to them. They sat down at the table opposite the her bed, where Netumo had drunk tea earlier.  
  
„Bad news, Toloka. I’m really not sure what happened to her. Only have some suspicions that I can’t really confirm, as I have never had this with a patient before. My only hope is that the community center has a book that I don’t have myself that could help me out here.”  
  
– „I’ll go there right away, then. But what should I be looking for?”  
  
„Ask for books about medicine, and especially healing herbs. If that doesn’t work, we will have to get her to a hospital over in Joonen, but it would mean a long trip and I don’t think her current state would allow it. While she’s not in danger of dying right now, she does need rest badly, and could not bear much more stress.”  
  
– „That’s at least half a day away! If we’re lucky! We don’t have any motorboats here and the supply ship won’t come until next month”  
  
„Exactly. It would be a great relief if we could help her here.”  
  
– „I’ll bring the books then, I have enough room for them in my backpack.”

* * *

### The library

* * *

On his way Toloka noticed that darker clouds were gathering in the sky. Thankfully, these seemed likely to only bring the daily rain rather than another huge storm. With the sun hidden, the land was cast the land into shadows and a stiffer breeze could be felt. He started to hurry up a bit.  
  
The community center was located right next to the marketplace, which could be found in the center of the village, halfway between Netumo’s and Toloka’s place. It, too, was made of wood, but easily the largest building, and the only one to have three floors. It hosted village assemblies on the lowest floor, the community archive with paperwork on the second and had a small public library on the third one.  
Adjacent to the building were public bathrooms with simple showers, since not every house in the village had its own. On the other side, a bakery was usually selling banana flour pancakes with various toppings, but it had closed down due to the storm.  
  
The door had two large wings, decorated with various wood carvings showing different leaves and flowers, but as Toloka quickly found out, it was closed. He tried to rattle at the door, but to no avail. Next, he tried knocking on the door, and then a second and a third time. Finally, he could hear steps inside, and the rope binding the two wings of the door together was loosened.  
  
A man with greying hair, maybe about 50 years old, opened the door slightly.  
  
„What do you want? The library is closed today and the next few days for repairing. The storm broke windows, caused damage to the walls and almost all the books are now laying scattered on the ground. You probably wouldn’t even find what you are looking for.”  
  
– „But I really need to find some books on medicine, my  
_vunavunam_ is sick and Elae said the library is our last hope at finding a way to treat her here, and she wouldn’t be able to bear a transport...”  
  
The man sighed, went to fetch a lamp and opened the door entirely.  
  
„As said, chaos reigns above. I can only tell you where the books on medical herbs and treatments should be normally, but I can’t really help you find them, apologies. I’m busy fixing the assembly hall so the meeting of the community can take place in two days usually.”  
  
– „Alright, thanks”  
  
„Take this lamp, I have another one down here for me. Be careful with the fire.”  
  
He handed him a burning gas lamp. Even if electricity existed in this remote corner of the world, the storm would have knocked it out.  
  
„Medicine books were usually in the backroom, at the wall opposite the door. You can get to it by walking through the main library room.”  
  
A thunder could be heard now outside, a sign of the rainclouds having arrived.  
  
„Oh,  
_kummatomo_ , the rain is going to ruin all those books with the windows broken. Please help me board up them, I’ll just get the planks. Wait a moment.”  
  
He disappeared and re-emerged a minute later with a couple of thin boards, a hammer and nails.  
  
„My name is Ilal, by the way. And yours?”  
  
– „Toloka.”  
  
The wooden stairway was barely visible now and creaked terribly as they both stepped on it. As they reached the next floor, he saw a mess of paper, glass shards, drawers and boxes on the floor, half-emptied shelves on three sides, a door leading to another, bigger room on the right and a broken window on the side opposite the stairs. Rain was already getting in through it.  
  
The librarian took a brush that had been leaning against the wall, and swept some of it to the side to create a small path to walk through, to protect the records of the archive and their feet. No one here was wearing shoes, and in the relative darkness it was easy to miss something sharp laying on the ground.  
  
Then they both took two boards, went to the broken window, and Ilal hammered the boards onto the wall while Toloka was holding them up. After that, they went through the door to the bigger room and repeated the procedure there. The floor in front of the windows, was equally covered in papers, shards and boxes, already getting wet from the rain. Thunder could now be heard more commonly in the distance, too.  
  
Ilal shook his head looking at the scene in the light of the gas lamp in Toloka’s hand. „I can only hope we can save all these files here. Record-keeping is of vital importance to any community.”  
  
On their way to the next floor, the librarian remarked that he needed more boards and would be back shortly, so Toloka decided to take a look at the library alone.  
  
He had been there a number of times before, and always enjoyed it there, but it would be different this time. As the door opened, his heart sunk at the sorry sight. Like on the previous floor, the storm had emptied the contents of the shelves and almost all the books were now lying on the floor inding heaps across the room, often opened with pages creased or spines damaged from falling. And closer to the wall with the windows rain was falling on them, too. It would be long before he or anyone else could enjoy quality time here, but more importantly, it would make finding the right book for the healer that much harder.  
  
He wanted to try and start tidying it up, but didn’t even know where to start, and didn’t want to step on the books out of fear of damaging them more. In that moment the librarian appeared with new boards, put them aside, leaning at the wall and started picking up books and throwing them on other piles to create a path to the broken windows, and after hesitating for a moment, Toloka finally joined in.  
  
After a minute, they had reached the opposite wall, where curtains where blowing in the wind and a ray of lightning could be seen, brightening the room for a split second. After the curtains were pushed aside, the windows were boarded up again, and the same happened in the backroom.

* * *

  
„So” Ilal began „now you are on your own.” He touched a now-empty shelf at a wall. „This is where the medical books used to be. But now they are spread over the room. Good luck searching. Again, be careful with the lamp, and tell me later if you found something.”  
  
– „Alright.”  
  
Toloka looked at the piles in front of him. This seemed like it would take forever, when he couldn’t afford to waste any time. And the poor lighting definitely did not help. He started picking up some from the nearest heap to check them.  
The first one was called  
_„Ilehiohi sie nesaniavan a saaval”_ or „A comparative biology of the island”. A recent bestseller that had grown to be very popular all over the island, and even the smaller neighboring ones. Not a medical book in any case, so he put it on a shelf.  
The other one in his hand was  
_„Kama a van u toni nuhe edoja”_ or „Wild fruits and where to find them”. He wondered whether this book included medical uses of fruits, so he put it to the other end of the shelf for now.  
The next books were an „Almanac for Fishmen”, „New in farming. Year 32310” and „Stargazing: old and new ways”.  
_No, no, no._ None of these even came close.  
_Ugh, what am I going to do? _Toloka tried to think of a better way. But he couldn’t come up with anything.__

__An hour later, the pile in front of him had gone, but he still had found no book on herbs, and all the books on medicine were either general overviews or about fields that that no doubt would be of no use for the healer. The fruit book had turned out to be not helpful either. Exhausted, he sat down on the floor laying against a now again book-packed shelf.  
There were still at least three times as many books in the room, but he really didn’t feel like going through them all. It also felt a bit senseless since he really didn’t have a good idea of what he was supposed to be looking for, and leafing through all books would take even longer. He had to change his approach, somehow. He picked up the first book he had disregarded at first. It wasn’t strictly speaking about medicine, but it certainly was going to be about plants, going by the title. So maybe it would have something about healing plants, too._ _

___Let’s see... plants, plants, healing plants..._ The plants section was huge, covering all kinds of plants sorted by order, family and region of the island, but sadly it had no dedicated healing plants section. However, some more searching provided him with a „Uses of plants” table, spanning several pages. _Plants providing food, plants providing fiber, plants providing intoxication... Aha! Plants providing ingredients for medicine.__ _

__He was regaining some hope, but also mentally beating himself up for not looking into this book right away._ _

___Green maka ... leaves... used for fever and headaches._  
_Red bark tree... bark and teethleaves ... good against colds and blocked noses_ _ _

__The list went on and on, but nothing seemed to be about what his grandmother went through. Of course, if even the healer didn’t know about it, why would a general knowledge book have it? Maybe if he searched for a more general term like „weakness” or something else that could cause a collapse, so like a paralysis. Still not finding anything, he was about to give up again. He really wished the healer had come with him to help him out, but then he came across an entry almost at the end of the list:_ _

_Whiteberry ... leaves and roots... against fever, pain, inflammation, said to stop fainting_  
  
His eyes shot open. This was definitely it, this was something that might help. He didn’t really know about berries or herbs at all, that was more Netumo’s field of knowledge as a forager. At the end of the row a page number was indicated. On that pagfind some, the plant of the whiteberry was described in more detail, as an evergreen shrub that can grow more than six feet tall, and an illustration showed it having unremarkable mid-sized green leaves and white-pinkish berries hanging in rows. The order and family it belonged to were also mentioned, but it only gave a very general description of where it can be found, in the northeast of the island.  
  
In the northeast, but that’s were the Samwati live... A very old and secretive tribe that has lived longer than anyone else on the island, on very much the opposite side of it, with mysterious temples and still more mysterious traditions. Getting to them would be very difficult, too, and likely take at least a week, so he was really hoping there was an easier way to get those plants and their leaves and roots.  
  
And that he could just find a book that goes into a bit more detail on that healing plant. Earlier he saw a book titled „Samwati Secrets”, and he had put it aside into the shelf, not thinking much of it, but it could be useful now. He checked the spines and was almost surprised to find it quickly. Inside it talked much about history, culture and religion of the tribe, but it also had chapters devoted to local plantlife and animals. He checked for „whiteberry” in the index and actually found a somewhat longer description. Like the other reference book, it provided a general description of the shrub and an illustration, but it went into more details regarding its use.  
  
„The berries can be eaten, raw or turned into a soup or preserve, although they are lacking in flavor. The leaves can be fermented to be used for a herbal tea. Most famously, though, oil can be derived from the leaves and the flowers, giving foods and beverages a distinctive, fresh sweet mint-like flavor.  
It also is said to have many medical benefits, particularly for the heart, joints, muscles and tendons. It is also used as a remedy for headaches, bruises or inflammation, although many healers prefer to use a liquid gained by boiling roots in water for most of these things instead, except for headaches and other general pain, particularly in the chest, where a leaf paste is used. This paste can also reduce fever and coughing, and both preparations are used to treat fainting and paralysis.”  
  
_I think I can go now. I won’t be able to find something better applicable. Maybe there’s hope my grandmother will be healthy soon after all..._  
  
He took the two books and made his way downstairs. The rain had stopped by now, so he wouldn’t even have to worry about them getting wet if he hadn’t brought his backpack. Hopefully the ones in the library that had already gotten wet could still be saved.  
  
Once he was again in the entrance hall on the ground floor, he poked his head into the assembly hall, where the librarian was still repairing benches and tidying up debris.  
  
„I found something” Toloka exclaimed, holding up the two books, almost as if in triumph.  
  
– „Oh really? Nice. Almost can’t believe someone would still be able to find anything in that chaos, heh.”  
  
„Yeah, it took me some time, haha.” He grinned, packing away the books in his backpack. „Well, I’ll see you again soon!”  
  
And with some effort he managed to get the front door to swing open and step onto the market square again.A few birds were singing. Or actually, it was just one, and it was sitting right above him, in a tree branch hanging over the community center.  
  
Toloka looked up, and was almost startled. It was the same red cardinal he had seen earlier, which had apparently followed him here.  
  
„You’re a persistant one, aren’t you? Sorry, I have nothing to feed you with.”  
  
The bird continued to sing and then looked at him. He looked back at the cardinal.  
  
„Really want to come with me, huh?” Toloka looked around and hesitated for a moment. „If you want that so much, you can sit on my shoulder or travel in outside pocket of my backpack!” He pointed with his finger to both places.  
  
As the bird actually followed the suggestion and sat down on his shoulder, his mouth almost fell open before becoming a big smile.  
  
„I’ll get you some more berries as soon as I find some.”

* * *

### The decision

* * *

He walked home, and as he heard other birds singing in trees again, his newfound bird friend began singing again, too. The dirt paths were somewhat muddy from the rain, but Toloka didn’t mind. He was used to this, and would just rinse them off before stepping inside. There was a bucket of water at the back of his house for that purpose.  
  
And as he arrived on the sidepath leading to his house he noticed the healer coming out.  
Her eyes immediately went to Toloka’s shoulder and she smiled again.  
  
„You got someone to watch over you there, huh? Nice.” she said.  
  
– „Yeah, he kind of found me. Followed me around. I invited him to stay.” he replied through a grin.  
  
„Ah. So did you find some books? It’s fine if you didn’t, I really should have given you more detailed descriptions or have come with you ...”  
  
– „Actually, I did!” He took off his backpack, which made the cardinal briefly fly into the air before settling down on the other shoulder, and opened it, taking out the two books.  
  
„Wait, A Comparative Biology of the Island had a section on herbal plants? Why didn’t I think of that? Shouldn’t have dismissed it as casual, non-academic reading just because it got so popular, I guess”  
  
She took the book out of his hand. „Oh, dear, I definitely should not have. This is an amazing treasure trove of information. What’s the other book you have?”  
  
– „A book about the Samwati, since the biology book mentioned the medical herb growing in the northeast only, where the Samwati live. I checked it and it contains additional information on it.”  
  
She closed the first book and took the other one from Toloka, flipping through the pages some until finding the right passage. „Oh, it even specifically mentions paralysis! This is perfect.” She was almost beaming right now.  
  
She looked at the illustration. „And it’s not even a completely obscure plant like I had feared. In fact, this one is widely used already to treat pain, inflammation and headaches, it’s one of the first we learn about in medical school. Great.”  
  
After handing the two books back, she started walking again. „I was actually just going back to my house to fetch some to help her with pain. You can come with me”  
  
So all three of them, Toloka, Elae, and the cardinal returned to the home that doubled as the village’s medical office.  
  
Elae opened the door and gestured for Toloka to sit down while she started to look through cans and jars she had in cupboards and at her collection of potted plants. Her facial expression got increasingly tense until she stopped searching and put both hands into her sides.  
  
„I’m sorry, Toloka. Really sorry. I don’t think I have any whiteberries left. And I know for a fact they don’t grow around here. We get them from the nearest city, Joonen.”  
  
– „Oof, so you actually have to go there to get it? With how unpredictable it might take an entire day at sea at least...” Toloko turned to look at her.  
  
She frowned and shrugged. „Usually the service boat would bring it every month, but it didn’t bring any last time. No idea what happened. I’d call Joonen using the public satellite phone we have here but I heard the storm had broken it, too. And all our city-bound carrier pigeons were already sent after the last storm.”  
  
– „If it can’t be avoided, I will ask someone tomorrow to sail me there. I would do it myself, but I have never been on the open sea. Really wish we had some motorboats here right now.”  
  
„I do, too. Sadly, they are rather expensive, and no one here is wealthy. I think a lot of people here also just prefer the old ways in general, and to make most things locally. Aside from things like, books or so.”  
  
Toloka turned away again, covering his face with his hands.  
  
– „I never really thought there was a problem with it either. _Faven_ , I guess there is a good side to living in huge places after all ...”  
  
„It’s got its ups and downs, living in such a remote village. It’s very peaceful and the air is great, only when you need to go get something from a bigger place it feels like you’ll have to travel across half the world.”  
  
– „Maybe I’ll at least learn something about the illness, too” He took his hands away from his eyes and looked at all the books in the shelf on the opposite wall.  
  
„That would be great. Anything you get to know, please write down for me. Or please, if you find a good book on the topic, please bring it here.”  
  
– „I can barely write, and I’m not sure how I could get books there, but I’ll try, I guess”  
  
„Thanks! I hope to see you soon again, well, and the medicine with you. Oh, take my pigeon so you can send me a message once you found it all. It’s sitting over there, in its hut. I’ll stay to watch over your vunavunam.”  
  
– „Thank you, for everything.” He walked over to the small birdhouse that had been fastened to the wall a few steps away from the door, close to the bookshelf, and let the pigeon on his arm. Then he picked up a relatively small box with large holes in it that was used to transport carrier pigeons.

* * *

### The first trip

* * *

Early the next morning he stood ready at the small pier at the beach, with his things packed for the journey, close to where he had been fishing the day before. His fishing rod had still been there and he was carrying it in his backpack.  
  
He was going to travel in a small sailing boat, that was currently still being backed with some goods for the city and provisions for the journey. The crew had als taken up additional precautions in case of an additional unexpected storm today by putting on life vests and carrying signal rockets and two carrier pigeons to use in case of an accident. The sky might be a bright and clear blue, with not a single cloud in sight, but that had also been the weather when the storm hit the previous day.  
  
Toloka was very worried. Not just about his grandmother. He had never gone so far from home and had no idea what to expect. His mother never really talked about cities, and his grandmother barely mentioned it aside from sometimes in anecdotes and old family tales that always struck him as rather weird, and made the city out to be a horrible, restless and cold place that you couldn’t thrive in, and how much of that would prove to be true, he had no idea. He could only see for himself. Maybe then this trip would have a good side, too.  
  
His feathery red friend on his shoulder again, and the pigeon in the box-cage he was holding in his hand he stepped on the boat. It rocked noticeably, but he was used to it. The crew now cast off the rope berthing the small ship, and Toloka and the crew exchanged final greetings with the middle-aged man remaining on the pier who had been helping them load the vessel.  
He sat down on a piled-up rope and watched as the pier and trees of Saavahai gradually became smaller. After that, he busied himself with his fishing rod, but had no luck catching anything. So he tried to support the crew, but with the water being calm at the moment and him not knowing anything about sailing he could only be of limited help.  
  
This went on for some hours, in which he tried to read more about herbal medicine and the other tribes of the island, but he found it hard to focus, his mind always getting distracted by fantasies and anxieties.  
  
He was just about to try to get engrossed in the book for the fourth time, when the sky suddenly seemed to darken. Or actually, only a part of it. Most of it remained blue, but something large was starting to block the sun, casting a large shadow on the ship, but little else. He squinted in the general direction of it in surprise.  
  
_What the heck is this?_  
  
The crew onboard seemed to pause whatever they were doing, too, trying to see what was going on over their heads, but the sunshine engulfing whatever was up there made it impossible to tell. Just in that moment, an oddly-shaped cloud seemed to rapidly approach the black dot partially eclipsing the sun.  
  
After a few moments, both had met, and the two seemed to merge at first, but then it looked more like a struggle. With bursts of fire and water being visible against the still blue sky, and a lot of angry-sounding hissing, snorting and puffing, it was causing everyone on the small ship to hold tight enough to railing that their knuckles turned pale.  
  
„It’s the black wave!” a crewmember shouted out. „It’ll cause another storm! With fire!”  
  
– „But what is that other white... stuff in the sky? It’s like light and shadow are fighting each other!” another one said.  
  
– „Everyone, we must be careful and make sure we are prepared. Be ready to strike the sails if necessary!” a third one exclaimed.  
  
The celestial confrontation continued, with the „black wave” and white cloud tearing and turning at each other, with ever increasing ferocity and progressively louder and more threatening noises, creating a strong wind that could now also be felt on the boat. Fire and water was now also raining down around it, and some of it even hit the sails.  
  
„Water, water, quick, some water!” exclaimed the sailor responsible for them.  
  
Buckets had to be filled with seawater in seconds and thrown at them to not let the flames consume the sails whole and render everyone stuck halfway to the city, in the middle of nowhere.  
  
The fighting still continued to intensify, with both moving and attacking faster, letting in occasional rays of sunshine through, until eventually, as the boat moved away from the fight, it became difficult to tell the two apart and they seemed to become more and more of a single grey blob.  
  
Toloka and almost everyone else on board, aside from the one steering, was still fixated on it until it was entirely out of sight, only then allowing himself to relax. His heart was still pounding from the impression, and he felt his hair stand on end. He couldn’t stop thinking about it. It wasn’t like everything he had ever seen.  
Then he realized, he had probably heard about it. That other younger man he had met while looking for people to help free Netumo from his collapsed house had also talked about a „black wave”. He remembered he still had that scale he found close to the beach, too. In his pocket he could still feel it. But he didn’t want to cause any more commotion, so he didn’t take it out.  
  
_I’m going to catch this datu, end these storms and be the hero of the village!_

* * *


	2. Joonen

### Arrival in Joonen

* * *

  
After a few more eventless hours, the journey ended at one of the piers in Joonen. The bird travelling with Toloka was the first to get off the boat and waited for his human friend on a post used for mooring ships. Toloka had already jumped on land to follow the cardinal before the crew had even finished preparations for berthing, causing the boat to shake noticeably.  
  
„Hey, don’t do that! Wait next time!”  
  
– „Sorry! I’m in a hurry!”  
  
„We’ll be here until tomorrow, you have plenty of time”  
  
Toloka already wasn’t listening anymore and moving towards the main street leading away from the harbor. He saw a lot of people here, more than he had ever seen in one spot outside of assembly rooms. A lot of people were selling street food, shipping and sailing gear and other merchandise, so he wondered if this was the town’s market place.  
  
As he walked past the various stalls, he took in the various scents and sights he had never seen before, one more curious than the other one. It was very noisy, with a lot of chatter, shouting of sellers and the sounds of various vehicles, bicycles, rickshaws and carts. Suddenly though, loud, weird music drowned out everything else. It was mostly very rhythmic and percussion-heavy, with no proper melody or words in it aside from _ahh, ahh, tof fa, toho-toho, ahh ahh, tof fa_ intermixed with some solos of instruments Toloko had never heard before.  
  
_Wow, the town really is a strange place._  
  
He then noticed people stepping to the side and the tires of bicycles squealing on the ground. When he went over to watch, he saw a group of teenagers and young adults on bicycles, wearing short black clothes with white highlights and skull motives printed on them. Their mouth and nose were covered by a bandana in the same colors and on their shoulders they were carrying huge boomboxes still playing the same tunes.  
  
The first one, a blue-haired, twenty, maybe twenty-two years old boy demanded:  
  
„Yo, yo, make room. Vutamatova coming through. _Amafe a Vutamatova._ ”  
  
_„Vut-Vut-Vutama-tova”_ the other ones were chanting in unison. As the first cyclist, they were bobbing their head to the rhythm of the music.  
  
Toloka tried to get through the crowd to get a better view of this curious sight, but he ended up tripping and fell in front of the small bicycle convoy.  
  
The blue-haired young man at its front put down the stereoblaster and first crossed his arms and then rammed them into his sides in a remarkably fluid movement.  
  
„Yo, yo, I said make room.  
Or you’ll face certain doom.”  
Toloka’s bird friend was flying over the rowdy and chirped angrily at that, but was roundly ignored.  
  
The two behind him stepped down from their bicycles, and did the same gesture with one hand, leaving the other to still play the same music. The first of the two exclaimed:  
  
„Yo, listen, we show no pity.  
We are the blight of this city!”  
  
And the other one added:  
  
„Yo, yo, that’s right, my man!  
Leave this place while you can!”  
  
He didn’t need to hear that twice and went to run down a street that seemed to lead downtown.

* * *

### The plaza

* * *

  
After some minutes of running past various stores, food places, and what not, he came across a larger plaza with a well in the middle of it, occasionally being used by people to fill up buckets with water, and several representative buildings around it. They were all three or four stories high, had a lot of expensive-looking windows and elaborate ornaments decorating the walls and arcades at the bottom. One in the middle near the well even had two towers with bells in them, additional arcades at the second floor and a large clock at the front.  
  
He had no idea what such elaborate and lustrous buildings were used for. Who would need them? Standing cluelessly in the middle of the street, rikshaws, bicycles and pedal buses, 15-seat bicycles with as many sets of pedals, driving past him with bells ringing, he tried to find a sign that would point him to something like the community center or a library, where he could expect to get some help in finding his way around this huge place. Everything here was so weird, and it was too much to take in for him.  
  
„Are you looking for something, young man?”  
  
Toloka didn’t react, still lost in thought looking around confused.  
  
„Excuse me?”  
  
– „Huh? Sorry, what?” Toloka turned around to who was talking to him, and elderly man with a cane in his hand.  
  
„Are you looking for something, young man?”  
  
– „Uhh, yeah. The library or community center.”  
  
„They’re here at the plaza, the large building with the clock and belltowers.”  
  
–„Wow, that’s the community center here? Incredible... Thanks, mister.”  
  
„Eheh, you’re welcome. You’re not from around here, are you?” He was leaning a bit on the cane.  
  
–„No, I’m from a small village across the sea.” Toloka smiled sheepishly.  
  
„Well, enjoy your stay in the big city” the man laughed and walked away.  
  
Toloka decided to not waste any more time and run over the empty town square towards where he’d hoped to find more information, but when he stopped at the well to drink, he noticed a herb store in a corner.  
  
_Isn’t the big city supposed to have absolutely everything you could possibly want?_  
  
He decided to try his luck there. A bell ringed as he entered the store. The storekeeper was currently sweeping up glass and ceramic shards that were spread across the floor.  
  
Toloka was startled. „Apologies, am I coming in during the wrong time?”  
  
– „No, not at all. How can I help you? Sorry about the mess here. Bandits raided the store earlier.”  
  
„Bandits? Did they steal anything?”  
  
– „A bunch of pots with certain herbs. They were really careless and knocked over a lot of other pots, too. No idea how I’m going to explain that to my suppliers.” He sighed audibly.  
  
_Oh no. Of course not everything in a city could be great, I guess. Should have been obvious to me that it would attract less friendly people, too..._  
  
„I’m sorry that happened to you. If you want, I can help you clean up.”  
  
– „It’s alright. Were you looking for something specific?”  
  
„Yes, whiteberries and whiteberry leaves.”  
  
–„Oh f..., I’m afraid the thieves took my entire supply of them. You might have more luck in another store, but from what I heard, these raids are systematic and trying to get all the whiteberries there are”  
  
Toloka was bewildered. Why would someone need or want so much?  
  
„Oof, thanks for the information, though.”  
  
– „Sorry I can’t help you more.”  
  
They give each other their goodbyes and Toloka returned to the plaza. Some doves could be seen on it now, one of them was apparently a carrier pigeon currently taking a break from delivering mail.  
  
He stood still for a moment and thought about what to do next when he noticed his stomach rumbling. He hadn’t eaten anything yet after leaving! And his feathered friend was probably needing a snack, too. Thankfully he had remembered to take a bag with assorted seeds with him that he thought the bird would like, and as he pulled it out of his pocket and held it in front of it, he was proven right when it gladly picked out seed after seed. He reached through the holes of the box of the carrier pigeon to give it some, too.  
  
_I guess I should have tried to catch a fish with my rod while on the ship, but after seeing all that in the sky I completely forgot about everything else..._  
  
So he wanted to go back to the harbor to fish... until he remembered that that might not be the best idea after his previous encounter. Not wanting to face the same rowdys with their weird music and gestures again, he needed another place. But not knowing the streets and beaches of the city left him standing cluelessly in the middle of the street again.  
After some deliberation, it seemed like there was nothing left for him to do than to ask someone for directions or find a map. Though asking complete strangers didn’t sit right with him, so he would probably have to go to the library now after all. At least he knew where that one was located, and it was sure to have maps or even guides for the city.  
  
As he for a second time crossed the plaza, paved with beautiful cobblestone, he heard the bells ringing in the tower of the community center.  
  
He reached the door, a massive wood portal almost twice as large as the one at home, and knocked. No answer. A woman feeding the doves at the plaza turned to him and said:  
  
„You still have to open it yourself, they don’t do that for you.”  
  
_Ah right, of course._  
  
He mentally slapped his forhead, and pulled the door open. Inside he found himself in a huge hall with white walls, a stone floor and beautifully decorated columns stemming the ceiling in the background. A stairway opposite him was leading to the upper stories. To the left he saw a huge array of benches with pillows on them, to the right was a door labeled „Administration” and a sizable pinboard with a map of the city. Nice, he wouldn’t even have to ask in the library now.  
  
He slowly stepped towards it and took a look. His location was marked with a small red flag, but it seemed almost lost in the sea of streets and buildings. Some houses had a small red point on them, which a key to the map on the right explained to be representing more community centers, and he could see dozens of red dots on the map. So the city was actually made up of dozens of communities! His eyes went large from just how huge this place seemed to be.  
At the bottom of the map he saw the coast and the pier he had arrived at, and a second pier was indicated a bit to the west, easy to find from here, and not much further from the first one. But hopefully more peaceful, he thought. It even had a fishing symbol attached to it.

* * *

### Lunch...

* * *

  
As he left the building and the plaza again, he noticed that most houses actually were very reminiscent of the ones he knew at home. They were largely made of wood, aside from the fancy ones at the plaza, they just all had several floors and were also all extremely close to each other. And they had many balconies.  
  
_Poor people here can’t even have their own gardens or fields. How do they grow their food? They can’t all rely on fishing._  
  
He still couldn’t keep his eyes on the street and traffic, as on every corner there was so much for him to take in, to watch and to observe. So many different kind of people doing jobs he had never encountered before, so many different stores and other businesses and so many strange things were being shown and offered.  
  
Eventually, he found the pier and took out his fishing rod. He sat down at the end, further away from the couple men and women that were already fishing and let the still brightly sun shine on him and enjoyed a bit of peace and quiet away from the loud and full city.  
While he was waiting for something to catch, he thought back home and to his grandmother. Hopefully she would manage to wait until he can come back. Apparently it would take even longer than he had thought, with the robberies taking place here now. As if the city wasn’t already big and frightening enough, now there were gangsters, too, taking the one thing he so desperately needed. How he wished he were strong enough that he could just go and confront them, and take them down himself. Or have some brilliant plan that would stop their crime spree.  
  
An hour later a fish biting his bait interrupted his sulking. He got it out and smiled for a moment until he realized he had no place to fry it and felt like a failure for not even thinking of that earlier. He got up and was ready to leave when another fishing man near him exclaimed:  
  
„Hey, nice catch! Are you going to eat it as lunch?”  
  
Toloka gave no answer and only sheepishly stared down at the fish in his hand, frowning.  
  
„Something wrong?”  
  
–„Yeah, sorry... I did plan to eat it, but I’m new in this city and don’t have a place to prepare it.”  
  
„No problem! You can just come with me and prepare it at my place. Nice to have someone over for lunch to talk to.” He noticed the red cardinal fluttering next to Toloka. „Your small friend there can come, too!”  
  
–„Oh, thank you! You are a very honorable man, I’ll gladly share what I have with you.”  
  
„You’re most welcome.”  
  
They had barely left the pier behind them, when a familiar tune was audible in the distance on the street. The same rhythms and beats pierced the relative quiet again.  
  
Toloka’s new acquaintance sighed. „Here we go again. Let’s quickly go into the next alley, I live there.”  
  
He ran down the street a couple steps and then turned a sharp left at the next corner. When Toloka had caught up with him and they were both walking at a normal pace again, the fisher continued.  
  
„I can't stand these people. All around town you risk running into them, and they will demand food from you or something or else challenge to you a battle of martial arts.”  
  
He stands still for a moment to check if he could still hear the music, and breathed a sigh of relief when he only heard the distant street noises before continuing.  
  
„I mean, I think they are only trying to act tough and aren’t actually good at fighting and their rhymes are beyond mockery” He chuckled at the thought.  
  
„But they are still annoying when you just want to go home. And this has been going on for weeks”  
  
–„Oh, so they aren’t like a normal part of the city? I saw them earlier today and just thought that’s how people in the city behave.”  
  
„Dear creator, no. Most laugh at them to, when it’s not them who are being rapped at.”  
  
They both shared a laugh at that. A minute of walking later they had arrived at a lime green wooden house with four floors and a flat roof made of thatch. Some clotheslines were hanging from next to the windows, leading to the house on the other side of the alley. Vines were starting to climb the front.  
  
„Come inside, before the gang can find you and show you their power of dancing.”  
  
He unlocked a door with a key, another object rather foreign for Toloka he had only ever heard about, and stepped inside.  
  
Toloka got another suprise when he noticed he wasn’t immediately in anything resembling a living room. He could only see a staircase and some doors, and asked:  
  
„Wait, if this is where you live, where are all the beds and chairs? Are they behind the doors?”  
  
– „Heh, some are, but not mine. My room is upstairs.”  
  
„Is there no room where everyone of the house meets?”  
  
–„Uh, no. Should there be?”  
  
„Maybe not, I’m just so used to people in one house living together in the same rooms. My village doesn’t have your kind of buildings.”  
  
–„Maybe I should come visit your house then some time and be similarly confused.”  
  
They chuckled both, although Toloka felt a bit sheepish. He didn’t want to leave the impression of a completely clueless country bumpkin or anything.  
  
_I have to remember to think before I talk and be at the best of my behavior, I kind of represent my community here, after all._  
  
As they walked up the stairs, his new friend started talking again:  
  
„What’s your name, by the way? I’m Duke of Net”  
  
–„I’m Toloka. Uhh... just Toloka as far as I know.”  
  
He mentally slapped his forehead. Dang it. I did it again. Everywhere I go, I will make people think I’m stupid or something..  
  
„Well, I guess in smaller villages second names aren’t really needed as much, huh?” Duke said as he was unlocking the door to his apartment and wipes his shoes on the welcome mat.  
  
–„Yeah, true.” was all that Toloka could say in return, trying to avoid another comment that might across as silly or something.  
  
As he stepped in two steps behind Duke, he noticed how small the room was. A small rectangle with a window and a desk on one side, a bed with a nightstand on the opposite side and bookshelves, cupboards and a kitchenette on the other two. A table and a few chairs were standing in the middle of the room.  
  
His new friend dropped the keys on the desk and then walked to Toloka again, arms extended, as if welcoming him to his new home.  
  
„Here we are. It’s not much, but for me it’s enough. It also means less to clean up, which is always a plus for me.”  
  
He pointed to the window. „And I get plenty of sunlight here every day, while the alley is relatively quiet.”  
  
His guest put down his backpack with the carrier pigeon box attached to it. Those were a common sight with travellers so Duke hadn’t even remarked on them. Then Toloka walked up to the window and at first saw nothing but the blue sky and more five-story buildings on the opposite side, only a few steps length away. Then he realized he could see the street looking down, the few people that were walking on it, and the flowers and vines growing next to it.  
  
„Nice view up here. I have never been up so high.”  
  
Duke smiled. „Glad you like it. But you’ll enjoy it more with a filled stomach. Later I can show you around a bit more, if there are any particular places you’d want to see in this city.”  
  
He turned on the stove and Toloka handed him the fish, and then sat down on a chair and watched him put it on a large pan and drizzle oil on top and to the side.  
  
„How about some nice herbal tea to drink with it?”  
  
–„That sounds great.”  
  
„Can you fetch me some water then? Bathroom is on the opposite side, the leftmost door.”  
  
After Toloka had done that and the tea water was boiling, Duke returned his attention to the fish. It was starting to brown and he added some herbs, and some tiny white fruits to it he had standing in pots on a shelf above his small stove.  
  
„Hey, what’s that you’re putting on the fish? I haven’t seen that before.” Toloka asked with some curiosity.  
  
–„Oh, that’s just dried whiteberries and their leaves.”  
  
„Wait, really? That’s what I have been trying to find all over the city! Please tell me you have more.”  
  
–„No, sorry. Those were the last ones I had. I can later show you the store where I got them from but I heard that there had been robberies. Weirdest robberies ever if you ask me, usually they steal something valuable, don’t they?”  
  
„Well... they’d be very valuable to me. Our village healer told me she needed them to treat my grandmother who suffered from sudden paralysis illness which had made her collapse on the floor yesterday, so I came here to get some and now I see that they are not available here either...”  
  
–„Oh, I’m so sorry. If I had known...”  
  
„No, it’s alright, I think you need more for remedies than you had anyway. But I’d really appreciate it I could take you up on the offer and you showed me where you got it from, maybe that store still has enough left.”  
  
„Sure, it’s right around the corner. Don’t have to walk far. Where were you before?”  
  
– „The one near the community center. It had just had a robbery minutes before I had entered”  
  
„Man, talk about bad luck.”  
  
After he was done frying, he divided up the fish in two and served it in two bowls, offering some corn flatbread and dried vegetables on the side. He also poured two mugs of tea and then sat down himself.  
  
A moment later, Toloka’s cardinal friend appeared on the table and chirped at the two.  
  
„Oh, is there someone else here who is hungry?” Duke laughed.  
  
Toloka fished out the bag of seeds he had with him a second time and tossed it on the table, letting the bird eat.  
  
All three of them had their meal in silence, and after cleaning up went downstairs again, the bird flying next to them or sometimes resting on the backpack of Toloka.

* * *

### Second attempt

* * *

  
„So, let’s go test your luck again” Duke said as he was opening the front door.  
  
– „If this doesn’t work out, what could I even do?” Toloka asked. When they were both standing outside again, he took the book about the Samwati tribe out of his backpack and flipped to the page describing whiteberries, showing it his new friend.  
  
„This book says they can be found in the lands of the Samwati tribe. But they live in the norteast of the island. That’s almost as far from here as it gets! How would I even get there?” he continued.  
  
Duke looked at the book and scratched his head. „I don’t know, I have never been far away from this town either. Once I was in Sitti on an errand, since my work needed a new device that had to be shipped in from abroad via plane, and Sitti is the only place that allows planes to land, but that’s easily reachable from here.”  
  
– „Sitti, isn’t that even larger than this town? The largest on the island?”  
  
„Yes, it’s about seven times as large as this one”  
  
Toloka’s eyes went large at that. He could barely imagine any place being larger than this, let alone seven times larger. He packed the book away and they started moving again.  
  
„Anyway...” Duke continued „I guess you would have to take a boat down the Tahoon a haad, the huge river running from Sitti towards the northeast or something”  
  
The alley they were walking on wasn’t particularly beautiful, with them passing overflowing garbage bins at every other door and puddles on the unpaved ground, but at least it wasn’t too full of people either. Most buildings were in decent or at least an acceptable state, colored either yellow or green like Duke’s house. Occasionally he would also point at a blossoming climbing plant or a nicely done window ornament that some residents would have to to beautify the neighborhood a bit more.  
  
A minute or two later they were arriving at a street corner where the alley merged into a larger street, and as they turned into it they were almost hit by a ball two children were playing with.  
„Sorry, mister!” one of them said, wearing a white shirt and blue shorts on his tanned body.  
  
–„It’s all good” Duke replied with a smile.  
  
He and Toloka waited for some rickshaws and bicycles to pass and then crossed the street. The herb store was on the other side. They were just a few steps away from it when a black two-driver cargo rickshaw pulled up.  
  
A men and a women wearing all black, black clothes, black bandanas, black skullcaps, and black sunglasses stepped out, armed with similarly black colored crossbows. They gave each other a nod and a finger gun gesture before walking swiftly and smoothly towards the entrance, past the bewildered pair of friends standing not five meters away.  
  
„Yo, snow-robbery is a go-go.  
We won’t be held back, no, no.” exclaimed the man as he was opening the door.  
  
„We are here, meet me.  
Masterthief, sweetie” the woman shouted out as she was walking through.  
  
„What.” is all Toloka could get out. He was starting to raise a finger, as if asking a question, but Duke cut him off before he could say anything.  
  
„No, that is also not normal in cities.” He couldn’t keep a straight face and quickly started to laugh.  
  
Toloka joined in for a moment, but then pointed to the door.  
  
„So, what–” His question was interrupted when pots could be heard breaking inside and fittings being turned over. Shouting emerged.  
  
„What in the world are you doing?” a voice said, clearly the storekeeper.  
  
– „Hand us over the stuff  
Or else we will get rough!” both robbers said in unison.  
  
Back outside the store, the Toloka and Duke were pondering what to do now.  
  
„Maybe... we should come back later? These people looked dangerous.”  
  
-„No, they probably only try to look that part. Or else you would have heard shots by now.”  
  
Toloka just stared at Duke.  
  
„I'm serious, it will be fine. Walk in, act confident, you will scare them off.”  
  
He proceeded to go to the door and motioned for Toloko to follow him and do as he said, but Toloka stayed behind.  
  
„Do you want the herb or not?” Duke put his hands in his sides and frowned.  
  
Toloka sighed and slowly approached the door as well.  
  
„Let's go! We will show them” his friend tried to motivate him, and shoved him right in before he could get second thoughts on it.  
  
Toloka had no choice but to say something to assert himself.  
  
„A-Alola, you two! D-Don’t think you can get away with this! Thieves are not welcome here and will be stopped, uh, imprisoned and ... ah, reconciled with society!”  
  
_It could have gone worse for a first time. Not much, but still_ , he thought to himself, cringing on the inside at what he had just said.  
  
The black-clad duo just stared at him, the man seemingly raising an eyebrow and the woman suppressing a chuckle.  
  
When with large step, heavy steps Duke now came in, too, they turned their heads toward him as he exclaimed:  
  
„You heard him: Give up now and repent. Yield to our society voluntarily or be forced to submit”  
  
– „N-no! You can’t force us to live in a society!” The male thief trembled slightly, but remained in place.  
  
„Then go before we let the dogs out”  
  
The intruding duo was visibly taken aback, eyes wide open.  
  
„Curse you” the girl shouted, threw a smoke bomb and escaped with her partner while Toloka, his friend and the storekeeper, who had been silently watching the scene unfold, had to cough to get the noxious gas out of their lungs.  
  
When everything had settled, it wasn’t just the thievery duo that had disappeared.  
  
„Oh no, now they have escaped with the whiteberry leaves pot!” the storekeeper exclaimed.  
  
Toloka and Duke ran out, but could only watch as the tandem rikshaw got away.  
  
„ _Faven._ What now?” Toloka wondered aloud.  
  
The storekeeper now came out, too, and said: „I’m sorry, I guess if you still need the whiteberries and their leaves, you’ll have to get it at the source now. I heard that even the stores of other towns had been robbed, and that this one had been the last to still have some.”  
  
He sighed, and looked into the distance and then on the trail the rikshaw had left behind.  
  
„This means you’ll have to travel to Sitti to join a trip to the Samwati lands, where it grows.”  
  
–„To the huge city? But how do I even get there?” Toloka asked.  
  
„Go to the railway station, some streets north of the main plaza and then take a train to Sitti. There you need to find a transport leaving for the northeast of the island. It’ll have to be on the boat, as there is no other way of getting there.”  
  
Toloka found himself speechless for a moment, his eyes wide. After a few moments, he could only got a single thing out.  
  
„Sorry, what is a train?”  
  
It must have been a stupid question for sure, probably something that is really normal for everyone from a town and in this moment he wished he had done more research to not look like a village idiot again.  
  
The storekeeper just looked at Toloka with an eyebrow raised, now speechless, too. Duke chuckled audibly.  
  
„A train is just a boat on land going on two metal lines instead of the waves.” he replied with a wide grin on his face, putting a hand on Toloka’s side.  
  
–„That sounds really weird. Does it have sails, too?” his friend replied.  
  
„No, it works differently. Uhh, I ... I think I could show you at the station. You probably would need someone to show you where exactly it is anyway, right?”  
  
–„Yeah, that would be nice. Just let me send the pigeon with my letter first.”  
  
He put his backpack on the ground and fetched a piece of paper and a pen from inside, using the store wall as a pad.  
  
_„Honored healer,  
  
I have discovered that some group of thieves and thugs seems to be stealing all the whiteberry leaves, and I now need to get it from the source, which means going to the Samwati tribe, down the Tahoon a haad river. Don’t worry about me, I will get it. Hope everything in the village is fine and my grandmother’s condition hasn’t worsened.  
I hope you stay healthy yourself,  
Toloka”_  
  
He rolled the paper together and tied it to the pigeon, which he had taken out of the box. Then he let it fly.  
  
After that, he turned to the storekeeper.  
  
„I’m sorry we couldn’t stop the robbers. Is there anything we could do for you now?”  
  
– „Ah, it’s alright. After what I had heard about these raids I should have expected this and done more precautions myself. You did what you could.” With that, he waved goodbye and went inside to clean up.  
  
Duke shrugged in response, and turned to Toloka again.  
  
„We should go to the stations right now, then. Better still, let’s get a bicycle bus or a rikshaw ourselves. It’ll be much faster, and it’s simple, too, just look for one with empty seats coming in your direction and raise your hands to tell them to stop.”

* * *

### Leaving the town

* * *

  
In that moment, one such muscle-powered bus had just come across the corner. Ten people were sitting around a box in the middle which held luggage, bags and more, nine of them pedaling, with one elderly lady at the side currently just sitting. At the front, the vehicle had a driver steering the bus.  
  
Before Duke could do anything, his friend from the countryside was already waving at it and shouting:  
  
„Hey, sorry, could you take us with you?”  
  
The driver braked and gestured towards the open seats. „Sure”  
  
So they got in, stored away Toloka’s backpack and started pedaling, and drove down the streets, passing more colorful houses, book and flower stores, lunchplaces and then entering the main plaza with the library and community center, where some more pigeons had gathered now. The driver had to honk to get them from leaving his path. After that, they were into what seemed mostly residential quarters with less shops.  
  
Some fifteen minutes later, another huge building became visible. Painted in a pale yellow, with huge windows at the front above and next to an already large metal portal, small towers on both sides and columns supporting the roof of a porch below them it was no less an impressive sight than the buildings at the plaza.  
Behind it, large massive vehicles colored red and black could be seen puffing out smoke out of their chimneys while standing on the metal lines Duke had mentioned earlier.  
  
„Are those the land boats you talked about?” Toloko asked.  
  
–„Yes, and the building in front of them is the station! Excuse me, we need to get off here.” his friend replied.  
  
The bus stopped, Toloka got his backpack and they walked towards the large doors serving as the entrance. Before they had reached it, the portal went open and a lot of people came through it.  
Duke took a look at the clock above it.  
  
„Looks like we are just in time, too! The train to Sitti just arrived.” he exclaimed.  
  
–„So, wait, I have to get on that thing? And you’ll stay here?”  
  
„Yeah. Sorry, I’d want to come with you and help you out more, but I have work waiting for me here. Be sure to write me, though.” Duke fished out a piece of paper from a pocket that had his address handwritten on it and held it high.  
  
Toloka’s red cardinal friend fluttered over to Duke, snatched it out of his hand with its beak and then flew back where Toloka could take it into his own hand.  
  
„Oh, looks like it’s not just carrier pigeons that can deliver messages, huh?” Duke laughed.  
„This card tells you where to direct your next pigeon mail to. I usually give these small contact cards to work partners and such, but I honestly want to stay in touch with you, too, even if we only met some hours ago.”  
  
–„Ohh, alright then. Please just show me how to climb on that thing, I have no clue.”  
  
„Sure, I can walk with you to the platform at least. Let’s go quickly, before the train leaves.”  
  
They stepped on the porch in front of the entrance and ran past the flower pots set up at left and right, towards the portal. A door made of massive metal, it had many ornaments on it, depicting railways, trees and orchids. Thankfully, it wasn’t as difficult to open and swung easily to the side.  
  
The arrival hall had even more ornaments and was a stunning sight to behold. Toloka stopped to look around for a full minute, mouth open. Even gold and silver could be seen at the walls and the window decorations and the stairs in the middle of the room that led to the platform on the other side were a pure white with blue rails.  
  
On the left side, a small newspaper kiosk stand was visible, and next to it a pancake stand, offering sweet and savory treats for the journey. A third stand had books and notebooks on display.  
  
Duke however pointed to the right side.  
  
„Hey now, hurry, or you’ll have to wait hours for the next train. The door to platform with the train to Sitti is there, behind the information desk, the stairs lead to the train going in the opposite direction, for trains arriving from that city.”  
  
–„Oh, sorry, this is just all incredible”  
  
„We really need to meet again sometime so I can show you more of the town. It definitely is beautiful. But now, run. See you.”  
  
Toloka did but when he was still a step away from the open door he heard a whistle being blowed loudly.  
  
„All aboard” a station attendant shouted.  
  
_Oh faven._  
  
He started a sprint to the nearest, still open door on the train, but just a second before he reached it it started closing and the train slowly moving, rumbling and hissing as it went along. Still, Toloka tried to jump aboard, and almost slipped, but had managed to grab the handle at the side of the door and could use it to pull himself on the train. His bird friend had it easier and effortlessly flew on board.  
The conductor that had been trying to close the door gave both a stern look but then stepped aside to let Toloka enter the train properly.  
  
Inside, he could see rows upon rows of narrows wood benches where people sat side-by-side. It didn’t look very comfortable, but he didn’t expect anything like that. If this thing could bring him to Sitti and with that closer to the herb he was looking for, then that was good enough for him. He just hoped for a safe, eventless journey, not wanting another encounter as he had on the way to Joonen.  
  
After having gone past all the rows, he realized there wasn’t a seat left. He had no idea how long the journey would take, but it would have to be hours. He decided he would just go to a luggage area and sit down on his backpack, probably read some more in the books about the Samwati in preparation. Outside he could now already see the open countryside passing by. He regretted not having waved goodbye to Duke, but at least he had his address now.  
  
He probably wouldn’t be able to find him in the city with it alone, but carrier pigeons tended to be good at those things.  
  
_Faven_ , he thought. _It’s not going to get easier in Sitti. If I already had so much trouble in this smaller town, how will I be able to find my way through something six or seven times as large? I don’t even have a real place to go to. How will I ever become a dragon catcher at this point?_  
  
He felt the scale he had found near the beach in his pocket.  
  
_Maybe I should give it someone else... But no one else there will have seen what I saw, and understand. And everyone trusts me to bring back the medicine, and so it’s on me. I have to do this. It’ll have to work somehow._

* * *


	3. Chapter 3

The train journey was eventless for several hours, and so Toloka finally found time to engross himself in his books. Much he could not easily understand, because the world it described seemed very alien to him, with its strange rituals, celebrations and mythology.

There were too many foreign words there he had no clue about and things that he couldn’t grasp the meaning of. Once again, he found himself wishing he hadn’t skipped school so often to be on the beach alone. It was nice at the time, but now it had became increasingly obvious it was one reason why he never had accomplished much on his own and so had no achievements to speak of to his name.

He dreaded having to go to the library in Sitti to help him understand the pages, the thought of spending hours searching and only coming across more and more difficult books or books he had no use for giving him a shudder. He liked the simple storybooks he had read in the library when he was smaller, this was all beyond him.

_Hopefully I’ll find someone to help me out here a bit, or at least to teach me a bit. Or will I have to do that on my own, too._

The train had already gotten to the first stop now. From the looks of it, a small village. There wasn’t much Toloka could see through the window, since everything around the station and behind it was mostly hidden under large trees, with only a few houses shining through the canopy of the forest.

After staying for about half a minute, the train slowly picked up speed again, and Toloka wondered if there was a plan indicating how many stops were left on the line. He got up, put on his backpack and started wandering around again.

At the end of the wagon one such plan was hanging on the wall, showing the nearby rainforest, coasts and other natural features as well as all the settlements in the region. The railway cut right through the rainforest, much to Toloka’s shock, rather than going along the coast as he had expected.

_What happened to mohomo, or living in harmony with your surroundings, rather than cutting them into pieces like a mango?_

He had to admit it was the shortest way to Sitti, but that didn’t seem like enough of a justification for him. Maybe people in cities who build these things just think differently. He found that a very sobering thought.

What also bothered him was that had he still had at least twenty stations to go, and nothing interesting to read or do on the time. He didn’t want to try reading the book on Samwati again and the book on plants, animals and in general lifeforms on Jute also didn’t seem enough of light reading for him after the somewhat eventful day. He would have wanted to sleep, but there was no place to lie down, and still not even a place to sit.

_Maybe at the next station. Hopefully._

He paced around restlessly, looking through the windows to the sunset that was barely visible behind all the trees. After a couple minutes he noticed he was getting hungry, too, while running low on snacks. It was not shaping up to be a very pleasant night, in spite of the good weather outside. He tried to console himself with the fact that he was at least getting closer to the whiteberries he needed so much.

He sighed, but tried to retain posture.  There was not much left he could do, although he hadn’t  check ed if the doors at the of  the wagon could be opened. He had seen how large this train was, so maybe they led to other wagons with more space.

S o he walked past rows of benches  again , with people still sitting tightly next to each other on them and even more standing  next to them , and tried to open  the door  at the end . After some fidgeting with its handle, he got it to open and slowly shoved it, heavy as it was, to the side. 

Walking through it, he found himself in the open, standing on a not very wide metal bridge connecting two wagons  with railing similarly made of metal on each side . The train and especially its signal were very loud and he  had to  resist the urge to cover his ears to not lose balance.  T he door of the next wagon  he then managed to open with slightly less effort.

This wagon was even more crowded than the last, and he had trouble squeezing past people to find even a place to stand. Luckily to him, the train was just arriving at the next station, and in the baggage area some passenger was just about to leave, so he decided to sit down there again on his backpack. In that moment someone else stepped in, carrying a large messenger bag and asked:

„Excuse me, is there still some place here?”

Toloka shuffled a bit to the side, not saying a word, and so got a new neighbor.

„Are you also going to Sitti?” he was asked.

The new passenger got nothing but a nod in return.

„Nice. Whatcha doing there?”

– „Uhhh, going to try to find a way to go down the river. To the Samwati.” Toloka replied with some hesitation.

„Oh, wow, that’s rather far away isn’t, it? I’m also going to Sitti, and then who knows where next. To get the answer to this one mystery I have been trying to solve.”

– „Really? Same here!” Toloka said. He was glad to now have something interesting to talk about, anything to not have to read that Samwati book. It beat staring boredly out of the window, too.

„ _Vikiniv!_ That’s exciting. I’ll tell you what mine is all about. Our village used to have this huge, beautifully decorated temple stone. You’d put flowers on it for good luck and everything, but then one day, one day, we hear that huge noise.” He was throwing his hands around to illustrate while looking Toloka right into the eye.

„You know what happened then? We found out it was gone. The door smashed, the entire place trashed, and the stone gone, with the flowers lying on the ground.”

–„Oh, I’m sorry–” Toloka managed to get out inbetween.

„Yeah, and then we looked around for any clues on what just had happened, _faven_ , but all we saw, all we could find were those weird white scales.”

He pulled one out of his pocket. Toloka took it into his hand and turned it around slowly, staring at it. It was huge for a scale, very thick, and remarkably shiny.

„So anyway, I was gonna do some research in libraries, and...” the new passenger continued.

– „Hey, I think I found a very similar scale! Only mine is black!” Toloka suddenly exclaimed, still fixated at the white scale. He took out his black scale and showed it.

„Dude, you’re right! They are like from the same animal if it had been black. We should really work together to figure this one out, it’ll be much easier.”

–„Sure, we should! But it’ll be such a long time until we reach the city...”

„Want to spend some of that time playing cards before we try to sleep on our backpacks?”

„... Sure.”

A dozen too many card games they were starting to drift asleep. Some hours of uneasy rest later, huddled up to another, they awoke when the train abruptly stopped. Outside of a station, as they quickly noticed with a look out of the window.

„What happened?” Toloka’s travel companion who hadn’t introduced himself the entire night asked.

–„I’m not sure, but for some reason we can’t go on” Toloka replied.

„I’m hoping we won’t have to tramp through the rest of the jungle ourselves” his companion replied with a laugh.

– „Looks like we are actually already past the jungle, in the fields before Sitti, if I remember that map I saw correctly. Anyway, I’ll try to see what’s going on” Toloka added.

He opened the door leading outside and saw some people already standing outside. Looking around, the first thing he realized was that a huge number of them had been traveling on top of the train, holding onto various rails and parts of the roof. It looked rather dangerous.

_And I thought the inside was cramped. Faven, how many people use this vehicle?_

Then he looked towards what had apparently caused the train to stop. A lot of people were standing in front of it, but he could still see what it was. A huge tree trunk, in the middle of open fields. It didn’t make any sense. Where had it even come from? Why was it there?

He scratched his head and approached the site. The tree had been uprooted in whole, roots with some earth on them still seeming intact and the branches still full of leaves. Train engineers and everyone else strong enough were trying to push it aside, but to no avail. Even a dozen people could not get it to move an inch.

With their eyes all still on the tree, no one noticed the sudden shade they found themselves in. Something was covering the morning sun, something huge, and it didn’t seem visible to anyone, leading to general confusion in the crowd.

Toloka and his newest friend were standing a few steps removed from it and tried to look up, but what they were experiencing seemed similar to a solar eclipse, and so it was very difficult not to hurt your eyes trying to understand what it was that was blocking the sunlight. All they could tell was that it was coming nearer. And nearer. A few moments later, what had been a shadowy blob now seemed to have grown wings, a head and a tail.

The sun was still behind it, so Toloka still couldn’t make out many details, but it seemed to have feathers, ruffled feathers, as well as some scales. And it was still getting closer.

Instinctively he was laying his arms around his friend, and noticed that the same had laid his arms around him, with both now being enclosed in a tight hug, shaking a little. The people at the log were starting to notice now, too, and some let out screams or shouts in surprise.

„Is this one of those mythical terror birds? Are end times upon us?”

„ _Faven_ , it’s going to eat us all! I knew I shouldn’t have skipped my classes on defense against wild creatures...”

Toloka looked at it with horror, until he felt something build up in his stomach.

_No, I’m not going to be the coward here again._

He tore himself away from his companion, ran towards the log that had now been abandoned and stepped on it.

„Come here, _datu_! Get me if you can, and leave the other people be!” he shouted as he liftIed his arms up high. He wasn’t sure what he was doing, but he just tried to do what Duke might have told him. Have some self-confidence. Now this was another situation entirely, but he didn’t want to let the opportunity pass.

The _datu_ didn’t seem to respond at first. In fact, if it had a face, it couldn’t be seen at all. It continued to float above the head of the people, who could only stare up at the beast that was now only maybe two or three meters above them.

Then Toloka tore off a small branch of the log, sharpened it a bit with a pocket knife and fastened it at the hook of this fishing rod. He leaned in to build up momentum and then cast it with the sharpened branch at the end in the direction of the beast. It wasn’t long enough to reach it, but it made a considerable sound that got him the attention of it.

It seemed to have taken an interest in him now and approached Toloka, slowly. He was shaking, but remained stiff on the log, fighting every impulse to run away like before.

_I’m going to catch this one, this dragon. Watch, all of you._

His friend was standing a few steps to the side, barely being able to watch the scene. Just as the beast was getting into the reach of the fishing rod, Toloka pulled it away, creating another snap and then jumped down the log on the other end, running towards the empty fields. There, he whipped the rod with the branch attached another time.

„Come here, if you dare! Maybe even throw that huge tree at me, see if you can!”

Sweat was going down his forehead and his heart was pumping furiously.

_Maybe... maybe I’m going too far now. I guess I can only try to finish what I started._

The huge vaguely avian looking creature seemed in fact to listen to him. Not only was it still getting closer, it actually aimed for the log and used large appendages that resembled weird stone-like claws to pick it up. But before it could do much else, it was irritated by a sudden outburst of noise coming from the other side of the tracks. Some men and women had gathered on a small hill of the ground a few steps away from the train, whistling, drumming on their luggage, while hiding behind some larger stones.

It was enough to turn the beast’s attention away from Toloka and with a loud thudding noise the log ended up on top of the rocks before rolling down the hill. People standing in its way quickly dispersed, and the log hit the train at full speed just as the last remaining passengers inside and on it had gotten off, with the impact leading to an even louder bang, windows shattering loudly and all nearby waggons shaking dangerously.

However, the train did not tip over, much to the relief of the passengers and the crew. The obstacle was now gone and the train would make it at least to the next station, however the beast was still figuratively and literally lingering over everyone’s head, and it showed no signs of leaving.

The train driver got on the hill next to the train and cupped her hands next to her mouth to make an announcement.

„Honored passengers, crew members, everyone! We are needing someone to stay here and distract this otherworldly creature so the train can proceed. Thousands of apologies, but there seems to be no other way to continue. We can not wait any longer or afford to just ignore the beast and continue normally.”

As more and more people gathered at the foot of the hill in front of the waggons, murmuring erupted and got progressively louder. Toloka just arrived back at the train when it seemed about to erupt into anger and shouting.

He found his friend in the crowd and asked him what was going on now.

„They need someone to distract the beast. So the train can continue and not have to worry about being shredded by whatever it actually is.” said one answered.

–„Well, that sounds like another job for me and my trusty fishing-rod, then, doesn’t it?” Toloka said with a grin.

„Yeah, I guess you could say that” his friend tapped him cheerfully on the chest. „Although you shoulda been more careful. You coulda easily been swinging that thing there for the last time if you had been less lucky...”

– „Yeah, I wasn’t really thinking... but I still think I can do this. Someone has to. I’ll just be more careful.”

„I’ll better come with you, someone has to watch out for you. My name is Hosoma, by the way”

–„I’m Toloka, nice to meet you... oh wait” He sheepishly folded his arms in front of him.

The two of them shared another laugh, and then Toloka made his way through the crowds to make his own announcement.

„I’d like to be the one to distract that creature, please”

The crowd went silent, and the train driver replied:

„Alright, it’s up to you then. The next train would probably come in ten hours from now, or alternatively you can find a number of farms scattered around the countryside here. The next farm is probably about an hour away from here. We are counting on you!”

Some people now erupted into cheers, other ones were starting to clap. Toloka felt his heart racing and palms getting sweaty and so quickly made his away from the crowd back to Hosoma.

He gnashed his teeth and his heart sank as he realized what he had just done.

_This isn’t going to work out, is it... Why did I have to be so rash and ..._

He clenched his fists in his pockets.

„Something wrong?” Hosoma asked as Toloka slowly scuffed his way back to him.

„Eh, you were right, that I probably just had a lot of luck earlier and I’m kinda worried about what I got myself into just now...” The words seemed more directed at the ground than anyone else.

–„Ah, come on, now it’s you who’s gonna be all worried?” He looked his friend in the eyes, quizzically. „You could do this already. And I’ll be at your side to help.”

Toloka remained silent for a moment before speaking.

„I mean, it’s not like I have a choice anymore. I did this to myself, I always wanted responsibility, and now I finally have it and should be happy.” he said and attempted a weak smile, but still wasn’t returning Hosoma’s gaze. Instead, he now looked up to the sky, where the beast was still hovering, menacingly.

„It’s a good thing it’s apparently not attacking anyone as long as we stay still. At least... it looks like it. Maybe it’s trapping us and waiting for us to get exhausted.” Hosoma said.

– „We better not get exhausted then!” Toloka replied. „But we will need something else to create noise. The train is much louder than my rod can be. No idea what we could use instead, though...”

As they were trying to think of a better way to be loud, they heard a small metal bang from the inside of the train, right near the engine.

When they approached it, they saw the driver sweeping her cab, who then looked up and asked:

„So you are probably looking for some noisy items, huh? Give me a moment, I might just have the right thing...”

She turned around to take the rubbish bin she had used a minute ago into her hands. It was made of metal, including the lid, and so seemed like the best option. While handing it over, she said:

„Here, take this. I’ll just use a bag for now. Good luck, show the beast your best drumming solos. Maybe you can still make it to Sitti safely that way.”

With nervous smiles the two friends took the metal can and gave their thanks, before starting to climb the hill next to the railway again.

„So, what is the plan?” asked Hosoma.

–„What plan?” Toloka replied, looking at him quizzically.

„Uhh, you know. The plan that should prevent us from being caught by that beast.”

Toloka didn’t reply immediately. They were now on some kind of field, with the train slowly getting smaller in the distance and starting to disappear behind the hill.

–„Oh, that. Um, well, we’ll make a lot of noise and then try to hide somewhere?”

„There’s nothing but flat land with a few tiny hills and some farms in the distance, though...” Hosoma exclaimed, somewhat irritated. „Where would we even go to?”

– „To the farm, I guess? Sure, it’s not close, but I think we’ll be fine.”

_ I don’t even want to imagine anything else,  _ Toloka thought. He looked around. „We are probably far enough now. Should we start?”

„Fine. But let’s split up, so that we can lure the beast away if it gets too close to either of us.” Hosoma bent down to pick up two stones that were apparently marking the end of a field, and threw one to Toloka.

„Use this to bang your drum, and give me the lid.”

A fter Toloka did as asked, the two separated and went a couple dozen steps into opposite directions. Sweatpearls were forming on the forehead of both of them, and the aspiring dragon-catcher was shaking terribly all over his body. He nonetheless tried to grip the stone firmly, and hit the empty can,  repeatedly. The metallic sound was loud and clear and could probably be heard just as clearly at the railway track and beyond.

Toloka starred anxiously at the sky, waiting for the beast to react. His cardinal friend in turn, currently alternating between flying around and sitting on his shoulder, was starring at him, almost as if worried.

Behind him, the sun was shining brightly, and it illuminated what appeared to be scales of the hostile creature in an eerie sense of beauty, light reflecting off them as it slowly began flying towards Toloka. He continued to hit the empty bin with the stone, every strike almost seeming to be in synchronization with the strokes of the wings of the beast.

It was hypnotizing, and it was only upon seeing the claws slowly descending on him that he finally snapped out and ceased, leaving just enough time for Hosoma to distract the otherwordly being.

He stood still for another moment after that, looking after it with eyes wide open and arms numb, caught between a sense of awe and horror.

It took his friend to shout _„Run!”_ for Toloka to remember to run further away from the train, and closer to the farm. When the beast had gotten too close to Hosoma for comfort, he didn’t hesitate and started banging his drum immediately again.

This went on for five minutes, and despite their best efforts the creature was getting increasingly closer to both of them. The entire time it hadn’t made a sound, not a single hiss, the strokes of its wing oddly silent. It made it seem less and less natural, and Toloka shuddered at the thought of what exactly he was facing.

Soon he could only let the stone hit the metal a few times before having to stop, all the while the train could no longer be heard, only seen moving in the distance. And they still didn’t seem to have gotten much closer to the farm. His cardinal friend chirped alarmed.

One moment later, Toloka dropped the bin, realizing he couldn’t continue like this anymore. The huge creature was now almost hovering over them both, and despite him being several trees’ lengths away from Hosoma, it seemed like it would now be able to snatch both of them in a manner of seconds.

When the beast was already lowering what seemed to be a neck of sorts towards Toloka, who, now trying to move backwards, stumbled and fell on his backpack he was still carrying, almost piercing himself with the fishing rod he had put in the side pocket. The stone he used fell next to him on the grass. He quickly put it into a pocket, just in case.

His bird companion was still flying, and now soared high to meet the alien being at what might be eye level, if it had eyes. The sun was now coming from behind it and he couldn’t properly tell if there was a face at all.

The cardinal started to peck it at various parts, but at first was met by nothing but tough, black scales. The beast didn’t even seem to notice. The bird continued flying higher and higher, and few moments later it was hovering above the creature and landed on it, on a part where scales and feathers where conspicuously absent. It started pecking again and now the beast twitched involuntarily, more and more, stopped in its tracks.

Toloka seized the opportunity to get up and run away, towards the farm, meeting up with Hosoma after a couple steps. Trying to be as silent as possible they tried to suppress screams, even as the pain of sprinting for too long got to them. The farm no longer seemed as far away now.

It was going to be very close regardless, because just a few moments later they heard a painful chirp and noticed a shadow looming over them again, creeping closer every second. Toloka tried to not think about it.

A few more rows of yams later they were at the edge of the field and about to enter the yard of a farm. The main buildings were still maybe a minute of running away, but there was a detached cellar storeroom much closer, with a number of large buckets and jars lying next to it in the grass.

Hosoma let out a silent scream as he accidentally hit a stone with his foot, but kept going. Sweat was running down their face, back and entire body now.

However, the beast was already readying its claws again. They were now hanging in the air just an arm’s length away from Toloka. He tried to go for a final sprint, but was already barely hanging on as it was. Then he heard a familiar, even if slightly quieter and slower chirping.

The cardinal flew past him, with some ruffled feathers, and made a beeline towards the jars and buckets, starting to peck at them and chirping loudly inbetween, as if trying to alert the two friends.

_Oh, here’s an idea. Gonna throw that stone I used at these buckets over there, and maybe some more if I can find to create some sound to distract it at least for a moment._

He took aim, and managed to hit some of the older buckets, kicking them over in the process. Hosoma followed his example, and they succeeded in creating a lot of noise.

Neither of them dared to look up, but not being pierced by pitch-black claws in the next moment seemed to prove that it had worked. An agonizing chirp further away did, too. Toloka cringed on the inside.

With the door to apparent safety just the length of a fallen sapling away, Hosoma managed to mobilize some of his last remaining energy for a final sprint and had his hands at the doorknob within a second or two. The beast was now right next to him again, but currently occupied with tearing through the buckets and cans, which it sliced like a knife sliced butter.

The door was very heavy and slightly broken, so Hosoma struggled with for another moment before Toloka arrived and started pulling at it as well. With the power of both combined, the door finally fell open with a resounding thud, revealing narrow stairs leading down a dark, unlightened pit containing yams in large bags closer to the door as well as shelves with and seemingly endless row of preserves.

They quickly entered the underground pantry, one after another, and before they had any chance to turn around and pick up the door to close the it, the sunlight was blocked once more and they already felt the wind the beast created every time it moved its monstrous wings on their backs. Toloka, who had been the second to enter, involuntarily jumped at the chilling sensation and accidentally knocked down Hosoma in front of him, sending both tumbling down the last two stairs.

They watched in horror at the beast sticking in its claws, trying to break in. Toloka still also felt something like awe just from the sheer size of the beast. After a few moments, they both realized the opening was much too small for it and that the walls were not going to collapse, having the soil to support most of it.

Even then, they continued to hold their breaths, until it had finally given up and left. Just after that they visibly relaxed and leaned against each other, now breathing normally, but their hearts still beating furiously. When they had calmed down for the most part, they slowly got up and took a look around their surroundings. The sun was shining through the entrance, but otherwise there was no source of light, or other exit. It was like a small hall functioning as a pantry.

„Guess we will have to leave the way we came in.” Toloka said.

– „Be careful, maybe the beast is still outside lurking, just waiting for you to come out!”

Toloka took out his fishing rod from his backpack and after stepping on the lowest stair, cast it, so that the end would land on the ground outside. He swung it around, trying to use the rod like an antenna, and when he encountered nothing, he got on the next step, carefully, trying to make as little noise as possible, and repeated the procedure.

On the third try, the rod seemed to touch something, and even got stuck in it. Toloka tried moving it with more force, and the end of the rod started moving again. A small but audible clang followed.

_Oh, was that just one of the remaining jars?_

He thought for a moment.

_Maybe if we try to create some more noise outside with the preserves here... If I tie them to to the hook of the rod and swing it towards outside, towards the buckets and jars it should attract the beast if it is still here._

He stepped down a few steps and grabbed a pineapple preserve. Hosoma looked up and asked:

„What are you doing there?”

His eyes were wide open and his brow furrowed.

– „Just trying something, just in case” Toloka replied.

He attached the jar with pineapple to the hook and cast the rod outside after he had stepped on the stairs again.

To his surprise, before he could hit any bucket, something seemed to grab the rod, and a voice was coming from outside:

„What in the world is going on here?” Toloka was stunned. It definitely sounded human, and he wasn’t expecting that.

„What are you doing with my pineapple jar there?”

Slowly, Toloka got a grip on himself and emerged from the underground pantry. He was met by a stern gaze of a middle-aged man, wearing a straw hat and a white shirt, leaning with one hand at the broken door, and holding a crossbow in the other one.

–„Uhh, uhh, uhh... fighting off that beast that almost tore us apart” Toloka stammered in reply.

„What beast? I didn’t hear anyone but you here.”  
  


– „Yeah, that’s because the beast doesn’t make noise. But it was really here!”

The man remained silent and gave a mocking look at Toloka. He glanced towards his side, towards all the dropped vessels.

„And I suppose all that chaos here is also because of it?”

He went over them to start putting them in order again when he noticed a bird, a red cardinal laying between two jars. It was clearly injured and had lost a lot of feathers, but was still breathing laboriously.

Laughing, he pointed to it and asked „Is that your monster?”

He frowned when he got no answer. „Whatever. Just get out of there. Both of you, and get that bird away from here, too.”

Toloka picked the little bird up and wrapped it in a handkerchief he had with him. Hosoma gathered all their belongings, and then left the cellar, too. The man mustered them carefully and then unhooked the jar that was still hanging at Toloka’s fishing rod.

„And this will stay here. If you want some, consider asking next time.”

–„Sorry...” Toloka said quietly, hanging his head low.

„Be glad I’m not going to report you. This community is otherwise very strict when it comes to dishonorableness. Now leave before I change my mind.”

He was still looking sharply at the two of them, one of his hands resting on a crossbow now.

Toloka clenched his teeth and put the cardinal carefully into a sidepocket of his backpack and then he and Hosoma hurried away over the yard, jumped over a small ditch and ran towards a small path that was running next to it.

There, they finally allowed themselves to breathe.

„ _Faven_ , what was that?” Hosoma asked, still panting.

– „No clue. But hey, at least we made it. We managed to get the beast away from the train and them away from ourselves, too!” Toloka replied excitedly, between breaths.

„Yeah, we did. You were great.”

A single, tired peep came from the outer pocket of his backpack. He turned to it and frowned.

– „At the expense of my bird friend here, sadly. First we’ll fix you up, then we will catch the dragon!”

„What are you talking about?” Hosoma asked, furrowing his brow again.

–„Nothing, nothing” Toloka laughed in return. „Just kidding”

„Uh, alright. Anyway, do you have a map or something that would tell us how far it still is to Sitti? Might be still a while, and the sun is already past its highest point”

–„I don’t, but...” Toloka pointed to a sign some steps away. „That thing says _SITTI 5, doesn’t it?”_

Hosoma sat down at the edge of the path, filled with gravel, his breathing finally calming down a bit.

„Oh _faven,_ don’tcha know? That number shows how many hours you still have to walk at least. We might not even make it before the dark.”

–„Don’t worry, I got a tent.” Toloka replied, almost grinning again.

„How can you be so cheerful after all this?”

–„I guess I feel like I’m finally getting closer to my goal.” He was positively beaming now.

Hosoma decided to wait with any more questions until later, and instead got up and started walking.

„Anyway, let’s get going, unless you actually want to have to use that tent and spend the night on a field.”

After an hour of walking, Toloka’s grin had disappeared. The countryside was remarkably flat and barren aside from fields and small ditches, they had only passed a few farmhouses in the distance and a single bicycle bus stop. The city didn’t seem to have gotten any nearer.

„We really still have to go four more hours?” Toloka asked, huffing and puffing already.

–„At least... maybe more”

„ _Faven,_ I wish it wasn’t that hot at least. Why are there no trees here? At least they would provide some shade.” He was wiping sweat from his forehead with his arm. „I wasn’t even noticing it earlier, but now it’s like it’s twice as bad”.

Hosoma pointed at the sky.

–„Those clouds look more like rain to me. So you’ll probably get your cool down soon”

A few minutes later, the sun had disappeared behind clouds, and another quarter hour later both noticed the first drops.

„Ugh, I really shouldn’t have said anything” Toloka exclaimed, clenching his fists. „This is almost worse.”

– „Let’s see... if you want to take another risk in this kinda sketchy community, over there is a shed that could provide us shelter for a while.” His friend was pointing to a small toolshed across the ditch on the right side of the road. It was a tiny wooden structure, little higher than Toloka’s fishing rod and probably just large enough to fit in both of them.

Since it was already starting to drizzle more and more, they decided to take the risk and check it out. The door to it wasn’t locked, but some larger tools inside were blocking the entrance. After these had been pushed to the back, the two friends sat on the ground and listened to the increasingly louder rain hitting the roof and the occasional thunder.

At times a drop would get through some gaps in it, but overall the inside remained dry. Some time later Toloka went to see if it was getting any less, but it was still raining enough that the field currently resembled marsh more than anything. It seemed they were going to be trapped in the shed for some time before they could leave again.

Hosoma watched the rain in silence for some time before asking:

„What do you think, will I be able to get back the temple stone of my village? And you – what were you gonna do? You were gonna go down the huge river to the Samwati, weren’t you?”

– „Yeah, I was just gonna get some medicine in the nearest bigger town. Whiteberries and whiteberry leaves. But it wasn’t there. It wasn’t anywhere. It was robbed from absolutely everywhere, and now I have to try to get it from the source.”

He pulled out the book from his backpack and flipped it open, showing it to Hosoma.

„This is what it looks like. It says here it’s only growing in that part of the island where the Samwati live. And the herbalists told me to join a company leaving from Sitti to join me.”

Toloka looked into the distance for a moment, at the raindrops falling less than a step away from them, while Hosoma took the book.

Another minute of silence later, he felt a tap on his back. He turned around and saw it was coming from his friend.

„We’ll find it together.” Hosoma said.

–„Really? You’re still coming with me?

„Yeah, of course. Whatcha thinking, that I wasn’t meaning it and gonna abandon you once we reach Sitti?”

Toloka just stared at him.

„Neither of us could have escaped from that beast alone.” Hosoma continued.

He maintained eye contact, and put a hand on his breast, the rain still softly falling in the background.

„Only together could we beat the odds. And there might be more on the way.” For a moment, he paused before continuing.

„These strange occurences, beasts, thefts, what else, it’s just too much for one person. Also, remember, we both came across those weird scales. Isn’t that evidence enough for some sort of connection?”

Hosoma’s eyes seemed almost shining as he was speaking, and his mouth was clearly smiling, if not grinning. Toloka frowned, unable to share the apparent excitement of his friend, but still was leaning in, listening closely.

–„Yeah, that’s probably really not a coincidence. It would probably be stupid _faven_ to pretend differently.” he finally spoke, his eyes however not meeting Hosoma’s.

„Exactly!” his friend replied, much too loud for someone sitting right next to him. He gave the book back to Toloka and took out a map of Sitti of his messenger bag, trying to unfold it between them both.

„Here’s where we should go first... Ah, wait, it’s too dark here.” He took a look outside, but the rain was still falling.

„If this is a tool shed, maybe there’s some sort of lamp around here?” he said to no one in particular.

Toloka got up and started looking around. With how little light there was in the room, it was proving difficult, but behind a spade he found a gas lantern hanging from a nail at the wall.

He took it down and tried turning it on. To his delight, it did start burning and now provided enough light for them to look at the map of Sitti. Hosoma had laid out on his lap and the lamp was set down next to it.

„So” Hosoma began again. „we will be arriving from the south, probably somwhere here.” He pointed to the lower part of the map where fields met outskirts of the city, and his finger drew an imaginary line from the outer districts towards the central ones.

„If we are lucky, we can catch a train to the center, otherwise we will take a bicycle bus. The biggest libraries are there, and the temples with I think the wisest priests. And probably also the animal clinics! That should be a good starting point.”

His finger now went to the river separating the city in a northern and southern part.

„After that, we will go look for someone to take us up the Tahoon a haad. One of my cousins is working as a courier between Sitti and the town of Taxonea further upstream and has his own boat, he can probably help us.”

Toloka listened attentively. He was now very glad he wasn’t going alone anymore. It’d been extremely difficult for him to find his way around a place that was many times larger than Joonen, and he had already struggled there.

He asked Hosoma more about the city and life there, and they spent the next hour just talking to each other, until they noticed that the rain had finally stopped. After the map had been put away again and the lamp turned off, they stepped out on the still very wet field and went back to the road.

The next two hours also proved to be largely eventless. Still exhausted, even if less so after the little rest, they were walking at a leisurely pace with deep breaths and their shoulders relaxed, barely coming across another human, save for two or three regular bikes. Toloka mostly busied himself with observing the landscape and making the occasional comment about animals or structures striking him as weird. Or the landscape in general.

„These fields look so barren! Like we are in the middle of nowhere! It’s wild” he said when they were sitting down at a picnic table for another rest.

„How long do we still have to go?” he asked.

– „We should be about halfway there now, I think. There’ll probably be another sign soon.” Hosoma replied. „If I remember correctly, the maps says there’s also a guesthouse coming up, so we can maybe finally have something to eat today.”

A chirp was coming from the side of Toloka’s backpack.

„I guess your small feathered friend here is anxious to finally be able to rest in a more comfortable spot, too, huh?” he added.

Just some ten minutes later they did come across a two-storied, thatched house alongside a smaller creek that had reef growing next to it. It had some benches and tables outside, but most people were sitting inside, in something that looked like a barroom. Upon entering it, Toloka and Hosoma heard

a man sitting at the bar talking to the bartender and boasting to her about what seemed his recent successes in fishing. A fishing rod was resting next to him.

„So anyway, I was on this spot here again last week. The year before I caught nothing at all, but today, today I saw that huge fish swimming there, and I thought to myself, _faven,_ I really need to get that one. It’ll be enough for lunch and dinner!” He indicated the size with his arms. The bartender wasn’t looking him in the eye and seemed to only be pretending to listen.

Toloka turned to his friend:

„How about I try to get our lunch and dinner from that creek, too? Maybe they’ll let me fry it here, too.”

–„Uh, if you want?” Hosoma replied.

They went past the bar and through a second door on the other side that led to a small porch with more chairs on it, and then down a couple stairs to a river bank.

Toloka took out his fishing rod and cast it into the water. A couple minutes passed and nothing seemed to catch. It wasn’t that there was nothing in the creek, all the fish just seemed to swim past his rod today.

After a while, he gave up and they both went back in again to maybe ask the man who had boasted about his fishing luck earlier. But as they were entering, it was as if he could hear a familiar rhythm in the background. Beats that he had heard before and associated with nothing but trouble. He was almost desperate to be proven wrong, still being utterly exhausted from running and hiding all day, but in that moment the front door towards the road was swung open with force and three young men and a young woman with familiar black and white clothes with skull motives and bandanas walked in with a rolling gait and a boombox playing way too loud.

_Oh no, not them again_ , Toloka thought, mentally slapping his forehead. 

„Who are these people?” Hosoma asked, squinting his eyes. 

– „Angry dancers with weird rhymes” Toloka replied, gritting his teeth.

„What...”

One of the four thugs took a slow step forward to the bar. He had cyan hair and was wearing a black skullcap, whereas the other three were wearing black baseball caps.

The apparent leader of the squad stood in front of the bartender and crossed his arms before ramming them into his sides in the familiar fluid movement, looking her right into the eyes, while the music continued to play in the background.

„Yo, yo, there are four hungry mouths here

fill them up or you’ll learn real fear!”

The woman gave him a stern, disdainful look and then turned away from him wordlessly, a silver-colored medaillon swinging around her neck in the process. The cyan-haired thug opened his eyes wide, then narrowed his eyes to slits and repeated his demand:

„Yo, did you not hear us loud and clear?

Empty stomachs are too much to bear!”

She turned to him again, but before she could say a thing, the squad leader had grabbed at her collar with one hand and yanked her medaillon from her neck with another one, causing several audible gasps from the people behind them. A moment later, he had thrown it to another thug who ran with it to the porch outside and threw it into the creek, before joining his fellow gang members again.

All of them smirked, and the cyan-haired thief stepped back a step, while the purple haired one carrying the boombox fast forwarded the tape to another, faster beat. He began his dance again and rhymed:

„Yo, we do what we have to do!

And you still haven’t got a clue

Who is now pulling all the strings

who is controlling all the things

In this nice community, ya,

It’s Team _Vutamatova_!”

„ _Vut-Vut-Vutama-tova”_ the other three in the background chanted.

They stared at the bartender’s eyes, who was returning a bored look and a frown, and only replied:

„Is that everything you got? I have a lot of things to do, so please excuse me for now.”

The squad squinted at her, and all four of it reached into the huge pockets of their very baggy shorts, taking out boxes at least the size of their hands. As they lowered them to the ground and opened them, four large spiders with furry legs crawled out. They quickly stepped back a couple more steps and then rhymed:

„Don’t underestimate our power

get out now, or prepare to cower!”

The spiders were now crawling across the room, and Toloka recognized them as belonging to a poisonous species his teacher in school had the class warned about once. He was supposed to avoid them as much as possible, as antidotes were hard to come by. He could leave, but he really didn’t want to abandon everyone just like that.

_No, that would mean becoming the opposite of who I want to be. I want people to be able to rely on me, and that I can be more than a do-nothing even if my life doesn’t depend on it._

Toloka and Hosoma were still standing in front of the door leading to the creek outside, but as Toloka saw watching one of the spiders come right at him, he backed off, sliding alongside the wall, whereas Hosoma hid behind the bar.

Several other people were also walking backwards trying to get away from them, stumbling over chairs and tables in the process. Soon, Toloka alongside several other people had been driven into a corner and now tried to fight off the spiders with chairs, brooms and whatever else they could find. But it proved to be difficult as the small beasts were moving fast enough to be difficult to hit, didn’t even show a reaction most of the time.

The room had otherwise gone quiet, no one speaking a word anymore. The thugs seemed to grin behind their bandanas, though, their eyes showing they were clearly observing the situation with visible glee. That is, until they noticed the man who had earlier boasted over his luck catching fish wave around his fishing rod wildly, almost hitting the skullcap of one the squad members with the hook in the process.

After a few seconds, it became clear to them as well as to Toloka and Hosoma that he was trying to apply his fishing skills to the situation and get the spiders hooked on the rod. Unsuccessfully, as the hook didn’t seem to be able to pierce the spiders.

However, nudging the box which had contained the spider with the pole of the rod proved to work better, and before anyone of the squad could react, the man had picked it up and could catch one of the smaller beasts crawling across the floor and on the bar.

This got the attention of some of the other people in the room, and they were now trying to stop the spiders one way or another. The bartender picked up a basket with logs of wood and turned it upside down over the eight-legged creature and then quickly trapped the stunned spider with the basket.

Toloka waited a moment for the small beast that had been approaching him to come out under a table and then quickly flipped it to crush the spider, and then jumped on it for good measure. This left the room with one spider still crawling.

Hosoma, still behind the bar, now looked for something similar that could work as weapon. An overly large pan with pancakes frying in it was resting on top of a small tower made of bricks, with a fire burning inside. Skewers and long metal tools to maintain the fire were next to it, and Hosoma picked up one of them. Then he quickly went back to the seating area, looked for the last box and picked it up with the skewer before anyone from the team of rhyming gangsters could realize it and so was able to catch the fourth spider, finally allowing him to take a deep breath and relax for a moment.

Team Vutamatova could only stare and quickly bolt, giving one last rhyme on their haphazard exit, although their voice had lost all confidence and was clearly trembling with anxiety:

„You haven’t seen the last of us here  
soon we will be back, with better gear!”

And with them, their music also slowly disappeared.

Exhausted, Toloka looked around at the chaotic scene, the flipped chairs and tables, the dead spiders, came towards the bar and said „Uhh, I’m sorry I contributed to this chaos. I’ll help with tidying up later, promised. But can we have something to eat? I haven’t had anything all day.”

– „Of course you can!” the bartender answered. And don’t worry about the chaos, I appreciate you trying to help me in dealing with those annoying _Vutamatova_ s. The meal for you and your friend here will be on the house.” She smiled and started filling up a plate with pancakes from the giant pan and added mango, shredded fresh coconut and fried fish on top of it, and filled two cups with coconut water.

„Don’t worry about the fisher here, he already had gotten his meal before you two arrived here” she added, as she handed over the food and drinks. „And feel free to ask for more to drink if you want.”

Toloka gave a thanks and took the plates, and Hosoma took the cups. They sat down outside at the porch, enjoying some quiet and the evening sun. Birds were moving past them in the sky, in the direction of Sitti.

When they were about to get up, something shiny in the creek caught their eye. As they walked up to the water to see what it was that they had seen, they realized it was the stolen medaillon. It had gotten stuck between two stones and a bit of reef. Toloka took it and brought it to the bar, much to the delight of the bartender.

They were allowed to stay the night upstairs in a room with two nice, comfortable beds, so Toloka had no opportunity to show how large and beautiful his tent was. But he figured he would have enough time later on for that, for now he was thankful to catch up on the sleep he had missed last night.

The night passed, and after a quick breakfast and trip to the washing room to freshen up they were given a small bag of seeds for the cardinal as a parting gift. After filling up a water bottle and packing some food for the day, they exchanged goodbyes and left the house. Back on the road, they noticed how more and more travellers and cyclists started to appear, as well as the first houses that weren’t farms, and after an hour and the half they finally reached a sign announcing that they had arrived in the biggest and busiest city of the island.


End file.
